A Rich Man's Newsie
by 1monster2
Summary: The newsies have been getting a lot of public attention lately-what with the strike against Pulitzer, and then the issue with the Comstocks...they've been getting a lot of publicity the last six months or so. Everyone likes them...or so everyone thinks. When some rich boys begin to take over the newsies' job, can they rally together to ensure their own survival?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello, all! I know I said I wouldn't write this until I published more of MALA…I have the chapter up right now, and am continuing to work on it…I just got this major push to write this chapter. Mainly because of this awesome thing that just happened: I tweeted about listening to the Newsies soundtrack, and I tagged all of the Newsies that I follow (plus the director and choreographer) in the tweet. Then, I checked Twitter the next day, and…..JEFF CALHOUN (the director) AND CHRISTOPHER GATTELLI (the** _ **Tony-winning choreographer**_ **) AND TOMMY BRACCO (freaking SPOT CONLON) ALL FAVORITED MY TWEET! Pardon my fangirl scream, but AOIEHOIWEFIHEA8OH GEIFOUAGIOJEAIOFGOIWEAH!** **Haha…because of that, I was like, "I have to write a Newsies story-I seriously can't not write one." I still don't know what it's going to be about…but I assume by the time that I finish this author's note (and maybe my cup of coffee) I'll have figured something out. Which I just have…three hours after I started writing this author's note. ;)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL…I JUST FANGIRL STALK THEM ON TWITTER AND THEN FREAK OUT WHEN THEY FAVORITE MY TWEETS.**

 **Responses to reviews of "** _ **Refuge of Nightmares**_ **", as well as a few from Chapter 19 of "** _ **The Newsie Girl**_ **"…**

 **RON:**

 **FansieFace: Yay-I'm glad you're reading it! I've missed your reviews…and your hatred of cliffhangers. (Isn't it ironic-as writers, it's one of our best weapons, but then as readers, we flat out** **hate** **them.** **;) ) Luckily for Hulu, this is hopefully going to be another monster story (although we'll see if I can keep up two chapters a day while I'm in college…I'm not sure…), and there will be plenty of cliffhangers to keep it occupied.** **Thank you! Your encouragement means a lot!**

 **S. Castro: Yeah, I love the bond between them too, and it was great to get to work on it again! Hopefully this story shows it as well! And I agree-nightmares are the worst! I haven't had one in a while, but the ones I've had were terrible. I think the last one I had was caused by an episode of Scooby Doo… ;)**

 **TNG:**

 **Luckysquidmere: Thank you so much! That means so much to me, and I am glad you got to read the story! Hopefully you like this one as well!**

 **P.S: All of you readers are probably going to hate me by the time this story is done…if you're a new reader, prepare for lots of cliffhangers and feels. If you're a TNG reader, remember how many times you guys yelled at me, and how many alerts I had to put up for cliffhangers? I am going to have to put up (according to the plan I just typed up) 9 alerts, including 7 alerts IN A ROW! Yes, 7 straight chapters of cliffhangers. Remember-killing the author means no new chapters! ;)**

 **REFERENCE ALERT!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 1!**

 ***P*R*O*L*O*U*G*E***

A young man quietly walked around the streets of Manhattan, not saying anything, simply observing. He was rather tall, and looked to be around twenty years old, with dark brown hair, and almost black eyes. At almost every corner he passed, he saw a newsie shouting out the newest headlines, trying to get people to buy the paper for March 8th, 1900. Every time he saw one, his lips curled back into what could be described as a look of total disgust. Finally, he reached his intended destination-an old, weathered library, which had seen a lot of books go through its shelves, and a lot of people pass through its doors. He opened the door, and quickly closed it behind him. The inside of the library was warmer than the outside (which was still rather cold, even in March), and he and the others didn't want to waste the hot air. He could hear voices coming from an upper room, and he cursed under his breath.

The meeting had already started-and he was late.

He quickly hurried up the stairs and opened the double doors leading into the next room, neatly sliding into his seat as he did so. Then, he looked up at the other men in the room.

"Ah, Nixon, you are here…finally. What took you so long?"

"Sorry, Anton-my parents made me attend 'family time' for a while, and I didn't have a chance to escape until now. Then, in order to escape detection, I had to take the more….scenic route."

"You had to pass by all of those newsies, didn't you?" another man asked. Nixon nodded, looking perturbed by the thought. "Yes, those illiterate and unintelligent street urchins who can't seem to shut up. Even when they're not selling, they're obnoxiously loud and foul." The other men nodded, looking as if the newsies' very existence was a plague upon their city. "Yes," Anton continued, "they are loathsome creatures-and for some reason, the public is infatuated with them. Those no-good mongrels struck out against Pulitzer, and what happened? They were rewarded, and not punished. And Pulitzer's stupid daughter even supported them….and we all know she has brains…but they must have been deficient then. Then, when a daughter of one of us, one of our 'noble families', was kidnapped and held hostage by these dogs, what happened? Pulitzer somehow lost all common sense and intelligence and sided _with_ the incompetent fools. _WITH_ them! And Warden Snyder and the Clancy brothers couldn't even manage to train the wench properly-she got rescued from their care, and is now even more independent and outrageous than ever!" He sighed, trying to calm himself down a bit, before he continued. "So, that is why we are all gathered here. We have all agreed that the newsies are truly detestable creatures, who do not comprehend their place below the bottom rung of society." The other men nodded. "And we have all agreed that the public is much too sympathetic with these wretches to recognize their inferiorness." Again, the others nodded. "And, lastly, we all agree that in order for both of these lessons to be learned, we must strike one down, and reeducate the other, so as to finally illustrate once and for all the truly foul creature that is the Manhattan newsie." All of the men in the room let out a resounding cheer. Anton looked at them all, before nodding. "Then so we are agreed, and so we swear-to force the public to see the truth behind the mask of the newsies, and instruct the newsies on their place, or lack thereof, in the social order. So I, Anton Merson, leader of The League of Gentlemen, so swear."

"So I, Nixon Warden, the deputy leader of The League of Gentlemen, so swear."

"So I, Lukas Rowlin, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Oscar Morrison, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Rito Revoltan, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Jaden Coldfrost, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Mitchell Renard Smith, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, William Tailen, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Lucius Mannon, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Delon Underbridge, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Jordan Harris, a member of The League, so swear."

"So I, Conrad Birden, a member of The League, so swear."

Once the men had all spoken, they sat back down in their chairs. Then, Anton sighed. "Gentlemen, do any of you have any ideas of how we can accomplish this goal? For it is all well and good to speak, but better to act." The rest of the men sat there for a while, pondering his question. Then, one man-Jaden Coldfrost-cleared his throat. "I have an idea…although you all will probably find it revolting and detestable." The other Gentlemen looked at him, very intrigued. "I will understand if you all decide to lynch me or something after this, but…why not beat the newsies at their own game?"

"Explain."

"Well, the newsies' entire survival is derived around them selling papers, correct? Well, what if we come in and 'volunteer' to sell papers-and what's better, we don't charge for them. The newsies have to charge for their papers in order to pay for the papers they must sell the next day, but we have so much money to burn, we could just give the papers away for free. And if any of them get aggressive towards us, we have more than enough of us to make it an unfair fight…and could even take possession of those Newsie women-their 'younger sister', Margaret, and the leader's girlfriend, Katherine Pulitzer-and force the newsies to give up their jobs to get them back." The others considered his proposal for a few minutes, contemplating hard. Jaden shifted nervously in his chair. He knew that if the group rejected his proposal, it could mean terrible consequences for him later on. Finally, after he had nearly started biting his fingernails (a nervous habit that he was trying to get rid of-one that occurred the most when he encountered a cliffhanger while reading a story), each of the other Gentlemen turned to Anton and flashed him a thumbs-up, followed by a quick nod. Jaden gratefully slumped back in his seat, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding in one quick breath.

"So, we are decided." Anton murmured delightedly. "We shall take the newsies down, using their own means of survival against them."

Jaden nodded gleefully. "They won't know what hit them." he crowed.

 _ **A/N 2: Hey! Sorry this is so short, but I needed it to be, since it's technically just a prologue…and because it's currently 11:47pm on the West Coast, and I need to get some sleep. Just think-I only came up with this story 12 hours ago, and I already have it all planned out. ;) Oh, before I forget to do this, I should probably mention that my twelve new OC's-the members of The League of Gentlemen-are each named for a villain in a TV show/movie/play that I enjoy! Here are the twelve, and who they're named for:**_

 _ **Anton Merson: named for Anton Mercer, Power Rangers Dino Thunder**_

 _ **Nixon Warden: named for United States President Richard Nixon (best known for the Watergate Scandel)**_

 _ **Lukas Rowlin: actually not named for a villain…named for a friend of mine, Lukas Rowland…I tend to use his name for evil characters in stuff that I write. A lot.**_

 _ **Oscar Morrison: named for…..I can't tell you that! ;) Hopefully some of you know…**_

 _ **Rito Revoltan: named for Rito Revolto, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers**_

 _ **Jaden Coldfrost: named for Jadis (a.k.a. The White Witch), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe**_

 _ **Mitchell Renard Smith: named for Mr. Smith (who is also called Agent Smith), The Matrix (which I haven't actually seen yet…)**_

 _ **William Tailen: named for Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail, Harry Potter**_

 _ **Lucius Mannon: named for Lucius Malfoy, Harry Potter**_

 _ **Delon Underbridge: named for Delores Umbridge, Harry Potter**_

 _ **Jordan Harris: named for John Harrison, Star Trek: Into Darkness**_

 _ **Conrad Birden: named for Conrad Birdie, Bye Bye Birdy (also technically not a villain, I just wanted an excuse to punch him after doing the show my freshman year of high school)**_

 _ **Also, Jaden's nervous habit is a habit one of my TNG readers mentioned…shout out to that specific reader!**_ __ __

 _ **Hopefully the next chapter should be out soon…I've got some of my best school friends coming over tomorrow to watch movies, and I don't know how long they'll be over…and then I have some stuff left to pack for college/get ready to go see Wicked on Friday (which is now tomorrow, according to my clock…it's now 12:01am.**_ __ _ **#WickedTomorrow! Haha…anyways, with luck, the next chapter should be out within the next couple of days or so. Just as a heads up, three of my main OCs will be returning for this story: Juliet (of course, this story does feature her again), Snitch (Juliet's brother, James), and Judge Jeremy Bolger…but it does not involve another lawsuit. You'll see what happens…eventually. However, according to my plan so far, Spot Conlon will not be making an appearance in this story….hopefully I'll come up with an idea for my next story where he can come back!**_ __ _ **Also, TNG (and Refuge of Nightmares, to some extent) featured a lot of emotional whumpage, which is also present in this story, but just as a heads up…there will be a lot of physical whumpage in this story. A lot. Like, you should want to kill the Gentlemen in about…two chapters. For…reasons.**_

 _ **Welp, I've rambled on long enough….I'll see you all next chapter!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **-1monster2**_

 _ **P.S-the Gentlemen all talk like Davey/Katherine/Pulitzer/Judge Bolger/the Comstocks…they don't have the NY accent that all the others do.**_


	2. The Newsies Meet The League

**A/N: Hello, all! I'm super glad that the chapter went over so well! It's also great to have my "Core Three" (DaughterofTerpsicore hasn't gotten in on the party yet) reviewers back…you guys rock!** **I don't know if this chapter will be out on the 20** **th** **or 21** **st** **…I'm having friends over in 7 minutes, and we're going to be watching a bunch of movies (including Harry Potter-success!), so hopefully this will get out today (it's currently the 20** **th** **as I write this), but if not, it'll be on the 21** **st** **. The chapter after that should be out by Sunday, Monday at the latest…my mom and dad and I have to make sure I have everything I need packed up for college in a week.** **That being said, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, trouble just seems to find them all the time, doesn't it? But then, if it didn't, we'd have no stories!** **Haha…thanks, and no problem! I'm excited for you to read it! (did you catch the reference to you in the story?)**

 **FansieFace: Yeah, Hulu definitely needs some preparation for this story…especially since Chapters 3 & 4 are the only chapters (until Chapter 12) that won't have a cliffhanger. ****I was hoping you would catch that one-I was trying to think of villains I could use, and thought of your review where you compared Snyder to Umbridge, and was like, "Oh-this is perfect!" I've got a little evil thing for him to do…so you will absolutely hate him by the end of the next chapter. I guarantee it. Thanks! I've missed writing for you guys, and making you all hate me with my cliffhangers…hopefully that shall continue! ;)**

 **S. Castro: Haha..thank you! I literally sat in my living room for like 30 minutes trying to think of good villains from stuff that I could use…thankfully I came up with a bunch!** **And yes-you got the reference! I remembered that people got mad at me for naming the Clancy brothers Evan and Aaron, so I decided not to drag another newsie's name through the mud, and instead use the Delancys! ;) Hopefully you like this chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE TO BEAT UP THE CHARACTERS BECAUSE I AM AN EVIL MASTERMIND AND THAT'S JUST WHAT I DO. ;)**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (and also** _ **kind of**_ **reference alert…maybe? Maybe…it's a reference to a physical characteristic of an OBC actor, so…I don't know…maybe.)**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 2!**

The next morning dawned bright and warm in the borough of Manhattan. It was warmer than it had been for a while, and there were more people walking around the streets. The birds were singing in the trees, and the warm air felt good to a city that had been suffering through a so far rather cold March.

In short, it was perfect selling weather for the newsies.

Almost as soon as people were moving around, the newsies were out selling. Their voices could be heard on almost every street corner in the borough. Basically every single person who walked by a newsie that day ended up buying a paper.

"With'a day like dis, we's gonna pay for all da papes in two days!" Specs called over to Finch and Elmer, who were on the corners opposite him. They grinned back. "Yeah-old man Pulitzer ain't gonna know what ta do with hisself afta the way we's bin selling!" Elmer yelled back. Finch and Elmer usually sold near each other, since they were best friends. They had known each other since back when they were orphans on the street, before Jack had found them, and brought them into the newsie life.

"Ain't it a fine life, bein' famous?" Finch declared, spinning in a circle. Specs and Elmer looked at him, both thinking, " _Iffn' anyone asks, I don' know him_ ", before rolling their eyes and turning away. A few corners away were Les and Snitch. The two boys were as thick as thieves-and sometimes even were thieves, managing to charm vendors out of some of their fruit or bread or whatever the item may be when the older boys couldn't manage it. Most said the boys just had a knack for it, getting whatever they wanted since they were born, because they were younger siblings, and that's just what younger siblings did.

Or, as the other group believed, they were too dang cute for the vendors to refuse. After all-they were only ten.

"Hey, Specs, watch-" The younger newsies' voices cut out as an apple went flying through the air and almost socked Specs in the face before he managed to catch it. Evidently the two youngest were tossing it between themselves, and one had thrown it too hard. Specs grinned at Finch and Elmer, before taking a large bite of the apple, and then tossing it behind his back, back to the younger boys. Almost three seconds later, there was a gasp, and then two voices complaining, "Come on, Specs!" The older boy chuckled, and turned his head towards Les and Snitch. "Don' go around nearly beamin' peoples' heads off with dat thing, den-ya hear?" The boys nodded sullenly, and then ran off.

On some corners a few blocks away, Albert, Henry, Sniper, and Buttons were hawking papers. The four of them had frequently worked together during the strike, and had become good friends because of it. They had also become close during an event in February-because of Albert's "baby-face" (according to almost all of the newsies), some men had attacked him, since they thought that he was a man that had slept with one of their girlfriends the night before. All they knew for sure was that the man was about twenty, but looked to be about 16, and had brown hair and eyes-and Albert was one of the first people they saw. He looked like the man they were looking for, so they had gone after him. Unluckily for them, Henry, Sniper, and Buttons had come around a corner and seen the whole thing. By the time the three were finished, the five men were picking themselves off of the ground in pieces. The four of them stuck together after that.

A few corners over from them, Mush, JoJo, Mike, Ike, and Scabs were pushing papers. Usually, when the newsies ended up in the limelight, these five liked to step back, and allow the others to take their time in the spotlight. It's not that they didn't want to be adored-they already were, given how infatuated the public was with the newsies-but they didn't crave it, either. Once they realized that they shared that in common, they started realizing all the other things they had in common, and started hanging out more often at the Lodging House. Most newsies would rather shoot themselves in the foot than miss the games of poker between these four-it got intense very quickly, and was always extremely entertaining to watch.

On two corners near the Refuge were Romeo and Juliet. They weren't too close, but were a few streets back. Juliet was still recovering from her time spent in the Refuge both physically and mentally, and was much more comfortable on a corner a few blocks away for the time being. Jack and the other older newsies were also in favor of it, since it would be easier to keep an eye on the two younger newsies (Juliet was nearing her thirteenth birthday, and Romeo his fourteenth). Crutchie was selling near them, to keep an eye on them, and Race by him. Out of the four, Race was the strongest and fastest, and was therefore responsible of protecting the younger newsies if anything should happen. Of course, Crutchie would argue that he didn't need protection, it was all for Romeo and Juliet's sake, but he also knew that it would put Jack's mind at rest that Race was there to watch out for all three of them, especially with his bum leg. Davey was after Race, and then Jack, who was selling on the corner the Refuge itself was on. He kept shooting ugly glares at it ever few seconds, as if blaming the building for all of his troubles (after all, he, Crutchie, and Juliet had all passed through its door, and come out in tatters), but he was trying to not let it affect him too much.

At about one-thirty in the afternoon, all of the newsies stopped selling for a half-an-hour or so for lunch. Most of the newsies went over to Jacobi's Deli, which was an extremely popular spot for them to hang out. Jack and the group with him, however (Race, Davey, Crutchie, Romeo, and Juliet) went to a nearby sandwich vendor, and purchased some sandwiches with some money that Katherine had brought by earlier. Her story about the lawsuit against the newsies had been published all over the country, and each paper that had published it had sent her a small royalty in exchange. She, in turn, gave it to Jack, saying, "I wouldn't have a story without you, or a new friend like Juliet. You gave a young woman a chance to live again, and this is a small thanks I can give in return." Jack tried to refuse, but he couldn't get his girlfriend to change her mind, so he ended up taking it.

"Dese sandwiches…dey ain't too bad!" Romeo muttered after taking a bite. The others nodded. "Dis is what we's bin missin' all dese years-havin' ta deal with Jacobi's cooking!" Race chuckled. Juliet and Crutchie leaned back and grinned at each other, chuckling. Crutchie was stretching his bad leg out, which was bothering him again (which made the boy think that trouble could be on its way, since his leg always seemed to bother him when trouble was coming), and Juliet was still sore in a couple places. Most of her injuries were pretty much healed and gone, but her ribs were still working towards decent, as were her arms-the right one had been fractured, and her left had been broken in two places. The warm sun felt good to both of them as they leaned backwards, ending up kind of leaning on each other to keep their balance. For a while, the friends simply enjoyed the spring sunshine, other newsies trickling in after they finished eating, until the entire group was sitting outside in the grass, either playing games or stretching out sore muscles or doing whatever, but being a family all the same.

"Eh hem."

The cold, dry cough startled everyone, and the group turned as one to look behind them. There stood twelve men, who all looked to be in their early twenties. Their clothes were new and well-maintained, and they carried themselves with a certain air of arrogance and pride. Jack inwardly threw up on their fancy black shoes.

" _Great. Rich boys with an attitude. Dat's da last thing we's wantin' 'round here._ "

"Is we able ta help ya with something?" Race asked. "Cause if not, iffn' ya could jus' hurry up an' scram, dat would be great-we was havin' a great day 'till ya came along."

"Oh, don't worry-we don't want to spend any more time among the lower echelon of society any more than we have to." the man in front declared. He was rather tall, almost as tall as Race and Specs, and had wavy blond hair and blue eyes, which were cold and frosty whenever they glanced in a newsie's direction. "We just came to inform you that your job-and soon you-will be quickly becoming obsolete, and that there will be no publicity stunt that will save you. You will soon be desolately destroyed." Every newsie's head swung to Davey, since he was the one who translated "rich-man speak" into regular English for the others. Sometimes Juliet could do it, since she had talked that way before becoming a newsie, but it didn't happen very often, since she was six when her parents abandoned her (and six year olds don't know many big words…besides "mine".). As they looked to Davey, they were surprised to see the flash of almost-rage that flashed across his face. Davey was usually the one that got arguing newsies to forgive one another, and kept everyone calm during trials. He never showed when he got upset, so for him to not even try to mask his anger…

Something was _not_ right.

"He said…" Davey muttered, trying to get the words out of his throat, which seemed like it was trying to keep them hidden inside, "he said that they just wanted to tell us that…that our jobs, and after that us, will be outdated and useless, and that there's nothing that will catch the public's eye and help us that way…and that….we'll be ruined and destroyed soon." He growled low in his throat, and almost seemed like he was going to jump up and give the man a piece of his mind. Crutchie and Juliet caught Jack's subtle nod to them, though, and quickly moved into action-Crutchie plopping onto Davey's feet, so that he couldn't get up in the first place, and Juliet moving to sit on his lap, so that even if he managed to shake Crutchie, he wouldn't risk knocking her over and hurting her. Now sure that Davey would stay where he was and not shank the guy before Jack had a chance to, Jack turned back to face the man.

"An' jus' who are ya supposed ta be?" he queried harshly. The other man smiled coldly at him. "We are The League of Gentlemen, the club for the highest and most important male members of our society. We only accept the best and brightest, which, I'm happy to say, are none of you. I am Anton Merson, son of Edward and Susan Merson, and the leader of The League." The area was so silent after his declaration that you could have heard a pin drop from a mile away.

"An' we's supposed ta be impressed by dat?" Race queried? The other man didn't respond for a moment, and so everyone heard Juliet's gasp from where she sat on Davey's lap. "Wait a minute…Snitch, isn't dat-"

" _The_ Anton Merson that we know? Yeah, I think it is!" her brother responded. Anton looked between the two of them, obviously confused. "I'm sorry-do I know you horrid creatures from somewhere?"

"Would you know Margaret and James Comstock?" Juliet asked quietly-almost menacingly. They could see when the recognition appeared in Anton's eyes as he looked between the two siblings, and then the arrogance and pride reappearing. "Well, well, well…I had heard about the suit involving you, little Margaret, but I never thought I would get the…pleasure…of seeing you and your brother firsthand again. How low you have sunken indeed-all the power and wealth of your family at your disposal, and what do you do-you run around consorting with these foul newsie vermin!"

"All right-stop right dere, or I'm gonna hit ya so hard ya won' feel anything for da next week an' a half." Juliet growled. She _had_ talked with Jack and Crutchie about controlling her temper-which was very similar to Race's, in that they flared up extremely quickly and burned hot for a long time-but it was very hard to keep under control in that moment. "Yes, we was part of dat suit, but it was cause my parents were bastards, to both me an' my brother. Iffn' Crutchie an' Smalls didn' help me git out from unda dat bridge an' meet all of my older brothers, I was most likely gonna be dead within a week. So don' ya dare insult dem in fronta me-not unless ya wanna stop breathin', cause I could arrange dat." Now Romeo rested a restraining hand on _her_ shoulder. "An' besides-money can' buy ya everything. Sure, it can git ya food an' clothes, but it cain't git'cha no family. An' it cain't git ya no love. Dat stuff's free-ta dose who deserve it, an' who work for it. Something I know you's couldn' do if ya life depended on it."

Every single member of The League started laughing at her comments. They laughed for at least two minutes, thoroughly confusing the newsies. They saw nothing funny about Juliet's rant-it was all truthful. After a while, Anton was able to calm himself down. "And those things are valuable…because? Face it, little friend, the world does not revolve on friendship and love-it revolves on money. And you threw that all away when you joined these imbeciles." He snorted. "I mean really-a ragtag group of half-starved boys and one girl-oh, and look, they've even got a cripple!" The other boys started laughing at Crutchie, who bristled under their cackling, but made no further response. "How on earth did you manage to pull off the strike-or win that lawsuit? You must have paid someone to rig it for you, but I don't know who or how, since you have no money." He made a subtle hand gesture, and the men of The League started to walk off, Anton following. Before he got too far away, he turned back and said, "You will be ruined beyond belief, newsies. I guarantee it." Then, he walked off.

Understandably, the newsies were all a bit shaken up by this, and they all unconsciously moved closer to Jack. "Why does dey hate us so much?" Mush asked.

Jack shrugged. "I wish I could tell ya, kid, I really do, but I honestly have no idea. Dem rich people, dey all think we is lower den street trash, but it ain't true. All right?" The other newsies still looked a bit disheartened, but they slowly nodded. "All right. Now, here's what we's gonna do-we's gonna finish sellin' our papes, and den we's goin' back ta da Lodging House an' doing somethin' together as a family-no breakin' off inta little groups tonight, ya hear? We'll play poker or somethin', try an' knock Mush, JoJo, Buttons, an' Scabs down a few rungs." The four newsies glared at Jack with fake hurt in their eyes, but they soon got over it, relishing the challenge that the older newsie had presented them with. As the others started slowly heading back to their corners, Jack sighed. "I don' know what we's gonna do if they's gonna keep comin' back here." he murmured, trying to stay out of earshot of the others. Crutchie, who had just shooed Romeo, Juliet, and Specs off to their corners, looked at him sympathetically. "Don' worry, Jack…I's sure dey's gonna give up soon, afta dey see jus' who dey's messin' with. We'll be rid of 'em by da end of de week." As the newsie leader sighed, Crutchie patted his best friend's shoulder, and continued, saying, "You'll see, Jack. We'll get some sleep, an' tomorrow dey'll go away. I know dey will." Eventually, thanks to Race and Davey, they were able to get Jack moving and heading back to his corner.

As he walked back to his own, however, Crutchie sighed, and gently rubbed his leg. It was sore, like it had been when the strike started, the day when he had gotten caught, thrown in the Refuge, and beaten with his own crutch, _and_ when the Clancy brothers had first started giving them trouble, the day they had met Juliet for the first time.

Crutchie had learned.

Pain in his leg-or, to be accurate, more than what was normal-was a sign that trouble was right around the bend.

And this time his leg wasn't sore.

It was throbbing.

 _ **A/N 2: Dun dun dun….what's going to happen next? Haha…hopefully you guys all hate The League as much as the newsies/I do right now…I mean, I just created them two days ago, and I already want to kill them. Although, I do know what happens next chapter, so…stay tuned! I know for a fact that the next chapter (and the chapter after that) will not be cliffhangers, so that'll be nice, but be prepared…every single chapter after that (until Chapter 12) will be a cliffhanger. Every single one. I'm still not sure how I'm going to not make the next chapter a cliffhanger, with what's going on at the end…I swear, you'll all want to kill me after the next chapter, but again, you can't! Dead authors mean no new chapters! ;)**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you soon! I'm going to go see Wicked tomorrow, so hopefully by Chapter 4 I can let you know how it went!**_ __

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	3. Crutchie Gets A Soaking

**A/N: Hello, all! It's currently almost 9am out here on the West Coast….which means I got like 6-7 hours of sleep…ugh… ;) I just can't seem to go to sleep at a decent time! Anyways, I am excited for this chapter…I have a feeling that you all will come after me once you read it, but still, I'm excited for it to get out there!** **The nice thing for you guys is that I'm going to attempt to make it not a cliff hanger. If I fail miserably, I apologize, but I'm going to try my darndest to resolve it. The next chapter should be out tomorrow, and I'll let you all know how Wicked went! (One super exciting thing-I'm pretty sure the woman playing Elphaba replaced Kara Lindsey as Katherine in Newsies. "Liana Hunt", anyone?)**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yay-you got it! I was trying to figure out some nervous habit he could have, and then was like, "Wait a second…I can't have him have a tv show-watching website like FansieFace and I do (Hulu), but I know what I can stick in-biankies and their fingernails!" ;) It just seemed to work.** **Yeah, they're definitely a league of idiots, but, that's what they call themselves….it just doesn't work. At all. That's good, but still…with the amount of whumpage that happens to a beloved character in this chapter…I don't know.** **You're welcome, and I will make sure to keep the chapters coming!**

 **FansieFace: Yeah, Romeo is in the description-he's with Juliet and Crutchie, one of the ones Race is keeping an eye over. I didn't have him doing too much yet, but he will soon. Haha, I totally agree, all of them need to get punched in the face and other sensitive body parts…** **Hopefully they will by the end, but…we'll see! Yeah-be very cautious, Newsies! I'm super excited to see it too! I've done a song "For Good" in choir a while ago, and three scenes in one of my acting classes… ;) I'm seeing it at the Keller Auditorium in Portland, OR. And, seriously-how could I forget about you guys?** **;)**

 **K Kelly: Why thank you! Yeah, Jack's definitely going to be very protective of Katherine now…you'll see what happens, though!** **Thanks for checking it out!**

 **Paperstars24601: Why thank you! I hope you like the rest of these chapters!**

 **Oh-I forgot to mention this earlier….because we never actually saw the newsies go in and actually get their papes, I didn't have to/get to use the Delancy brothers. However, as we will be seeing that in this story, you will be seeing them for the first time! (Not very often, but still…** **)**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 3!**

" _And this time his leg wasn't sore. It was throbbing."_

The next morning, the newsies straggled out of bed, still wiping the sleep from their eyes. They had stayed up past what they normally did, consumed as they were with the gigantic poker game that had broken out. Of course, Mush, Jojo, Mike, Ike, and Scabs had dominated the competition, but a few, like Romeo and Sniper, had actually given the five a run for their money. Not that they would admit it, of course. As Jack had hoped, the game had distracted the newsies from the unpleasant encounter they had had with The League of Gentlemen they had had that day, and they went to bed with high spirits. As they approached the distribution center, they were excited for the new day of selling.

Or, at least, they were.

"Where'd all da papes go?" Race queried. The newsies entering behind him also looked around, confusedly gaping. They knew how many papers were supposed to be there, or, at least, what it looked like when all of them were there. To their practiced eyes, it looked as if half of the papers were missing. "How is we supposed ta split dis between all a us?" Romeo asked, looking worriedly at Jack. The older boy looked around nervously. "I dunno, kiddo…let's see if da Delancys know wat's goin' on." The Delancys were indeed waiting for them at the end of the center, like normal, but they had sneers on their faces that didn't look exactly normal.

"So, you's finally here, is ya?" Oscar cackled, sneering at all of them. "You's all too late-dem rich boys took half of dem papes, which only leaves ya with whatever's left." The newsies looked at each other, horrified. What had The League of Gentlemen done?

"You mean to say that the League of Gentlemen came in and took half of our papers?" Davey asked the brothers. Morris grinned at him. "Dat's what he just said, ain't it?" The newsies were horrified. Without the papers that The League had just taken, there wouldn't be enough for everyone to have their normal amount, meaning that some newsies might not even get papes at all. "Can dey do dat?" Specs questioned. "I mean, why would dey take 'em anyways? It's not like dey would try ta sell 'em or something…"

"Oh, didn' dey tell ya? Dat's what dey's doing-except dey's givin' dem away for free. Deir parents have 'nough money dat dey can jus' give da papers away for free, and den buy more da next day." Jack whistled lowly as everyone looked at him. Inwardly, he was cursing The League of Gentlemen (or as he was now calling them, "The League of Idiots") with every breath he took, but outwardly he didn't show it, knowing that the others were looking to him, and needing the reassurance that it would be okay, that they would somehow make it through this. He took a deep breath, formulating his plan in his head before speaking. "All right-nobody panic. Here's what we's gonna do. Since dere's not enough papes for everybody ta git dere normal number, we's gonna sell in groups. Specs, Finch, an' Elmer, you guys sell with Les an' Snitch. Keep an eye on dem-make sure dey don' git inta too much trouble." The older boys nodded. "Mush, Jojo, Mike, Ike, an' Scabs, you all sell tagether, an'…Albert, Henry, Sniper, an' Buttons, you too." Again, the boys nodded. "Now…Romeo an' Juliet, is you two gonna be alright selling with just de two a ya?" He smirked, and waved a hand. "Don' answer dat. Actually, Crutch, you sell with dem too, jus' so I know nothin' bad's gonna happen ta them. Me, Race, an' Davey'll be nearby if ya need anything-an' dat goes for any of ya." Everyone nodded, and started collecting their papers. They made sure to take an equal amount as the other groups, so that no one would end up with only two papers to sell, while another group had too many. Finally, once they were all settled, they headed out of the distribution center and headed for the streets. They were further angered to find that the rich boys had taken over corners that the newsies had always sold on. They looked to be having a grand old time, telling people that they should take a free paper from them, because they were rich, and could buy all the papers they wanted. Many people were flocking to them, enticed by the offer of a free paper. Jack cursed under his breath again. "All right-we knows wat ta do. Dey may be tryin' ta sell free papes, but we's bin doin' dis for a long time-we's professionals. Y'all knows what ta do." The others nodded, slowly heading off into groups to find a free corner. Romeo, Juliet, and Crutchie set up on a corner a few blocks away from the Refuge, while Jack, Davey, and Race headed over to Jack's normal corner on the Refuge. Luckily, it was still open-probably because the Refuge was an old dilapidated eyesore, and the rich boys wouldn't be caught dead around it. The other nice thing about that corner is that, even though there were a couple rich boys on the corners across from them, it provided them a pretty good view of Romeo, Juliet, and Crutchie. If they couldn't see all of the newsies, Jack would rather be able to see those three, and make sure nothing happened to Crutchie. The others, of course-but especially Crutchie.

The morning went pretty quickly, the rich boys giving away lots of papers, but the newsies being more efficient, having sold papers for countless years. Some nice people even took papers from the rich boys and then gave them to the newsies to sell, saying that they didn't need to read them for free-they'd rather pay good money for them then get them for nothing. This made the rich boys a bit frustrated, since they were trying to get the public to do the complete opposite, but they couldn't really mention it in front of the public.

There was a lull in selling at about two o' clock in the afternoon. Les and Snitch had managed to charm a bread vendor into giving them enough rolls for the entire family of newsies, and had run around to each little group of newsies, giving them a small snack. They were harassed some by The League members, but their older brothers made sure to keep the brunt of the taunts on them, instead of their youngest brothers, and kept the boys moving, so that no one would tease them for too long. (They could tease them for as long and as much as they wished, which was the privilege of an older brother, but they wouldn't allow anyone else to do the same.) As they arrived at Crutchie, Romeo, and Juliet, they heard two of the rich boys taunting the three newsies. "I'm surprised you've managed to sell any papers, with who you three are-a giant of a girl who's too big for her britches, a lovesick puppy who's only method of selling is to flirt with every woman who is within fifty feet of him, and a cripple who can't sell a paper without using his limp to solicit sympathy from the entire Manhattan population." Both Romeo and Juliet were enraged at his taunts, but Crutchie shook his head at both of them. "Don' sink ta his level." he murmured. "Don' let him drag ya inta somethin' bad. He can' hurt ya. If ya don' let 'em." He turned to the boy who had been taunting them. "An' who is ya supposed ta be?" he called to the other boy, who smiled, showing his tenth. "My name is Delon Underbridge, cripple. You would do well to remember it, as well as his, Mitchell Renard Smith, and his, Lucius Mannon. They are some of the last names you will hear before you fade into obscurity."

"You keep sayin' dat we's gonna fade and become…wat was dat word, 'obsolete', I think? If ya think dat 'bout us, den ya don' know jack about us. An' you 'specially don' know jack 'bout Jack." Romeo grinned at his words, while both Crutchie and Juliet quietly groaned. "We's ain't jus' gonna give up without a fight, an' we's gonna win-jus' like we always do." As Romeo talked, Crutchie turned to Les and Snitch. "Git goin' now, ya hear? Go give Jack, Race, an' Davey deir snack. We's gonna be fine here." Les and Snitch nodded, and headed off for the older newsies.

"Oh please." A new rich boy-Mitchell Renard Smith, the newsies recognized-joined the conversation. "You won the strike and the lawsuit by sheer dumb luck. If that stupid judge hadn't already been sympathetic to your 'plight', and Warden Snyder and the Clancy brothers had done their jobs properly, Margaret would be back home, where she belongs, and the public would know how sorry and pathetic you all are. It's the same with the strike-if that idiot daughter of Pulitzer hadn't fallen in love with the brain-dead cowboy you call a leader, Jack Kelly, you would all be paying eighty cents a paper-or more." He chuckled gleefully at the thought. "In addition, that cripple would still be stuck in the Refuge, where scum like him belongs." Again, Crutchie tried to stop Romeo and Juliet, but both of them were enraged now. Crutchie was mad, of course, at what the rich boys were saying, but he had gotten used to people taunting him over his sixteen years of life, and so it didn't incite him to action as much as it did the younger newsies. Juliet, of course, shared Race's extreme and fiery temper, while Romeo was more like Jack and Davey-their tempers were still there, but they burned cold and hard, and took longer to fully explode. Once they did, though, the best thing to do was to simply run for cover.

"You shut up right now, or I's gonna sock ya in de place where da sun ain't shinin'!" Juliet declared, glaring over at the rich boys. "If de boys hadn' rescued me an' won da suit, I would of bin dead within da week, knowin' my bastard parents. An' if Warden Snyder and Evan an' Aaron had done their 'jobs' right, I could'a died dere too. So don' you come here sayin' dat dat kinda life would be better for me-cause it ain' true. None a it is."

"An' don'cha go 'round insulting us 'bout da strike neither!" Romeo cried. Whenever they were yelling back at someone making fun of the newsies' strike, neither Juliet or Snitch said anything. They always left that to the boys who had been in the strike, knowing that they had no right to speak about something they hadn't experienced. Juliet had still been under the bridge, so she saw it but wasn't a part of it, and Snitch hadn't even been in the borough at that point. Therefore, she left this topic to Romeo and Crutchie. "Katherine ain't an idiot, she's one a de smartest gals we knows-present company excluded, a course-an' she an' Jack are unstoppable tagether. We was successful in da strike cause we worked hard an' stuck tagether as a family, which is somethin' none a ya could eva hope ta undastand." He took a breath, trying to calm his anger. "Plus-don'cha ever talk 'bout Crutchie in da Refuge. He's one'a da greatest brothers we has, and he keeps us all goin' when we's eva losin' da hope ta keep going. So don'cha say nothin' bout dat ta any of us. Eva." Their tirades over, both Romeo and Juliet took deep breaths, trying to calm down their tempers. Crutchie gripping both of their shoulders helped.

They heard a noise coming towards them, and looked up to see Delon heading straight for them. They also noticed Mitchell and another League member, who they didn't know (Nixon) moving over to block the view that Jack, Race, and Davey had of the three. Crutchie quickly crutched in front of the two younger newsies. "Whateva happens, don' do anathin' rash, ya hear? Iffn' anathin' happens, ya gotta promise me ya'll go git Jack and de others before ya do anathing ya'll regret later-ya undastand?" The younger newsies tried to protest, but under his steady glare they finally nodded and promised him. Crutchie then looked back up at Delon. "Wat do ya want, den?" he asked, trying to keep _his_ anger in check. Delon glared back down at him, sneering at the younger boy. "You disgust me, cripple. You should have rotted in the Refuge, where you belong. None of the newsies like you-they just keep you around as a pet because they can't get rid of you. If they could manage it, you'd be out on the streets begging within a day. You're like the Refuge-an eyesore to the newsies who needs to be exterminated."

 _WHAP!_

Delon stumbled back in surprise. He hadn't seen the boy move, but somehow the crippled newsie had managed to lean on one of the others, a boy with black hair and dark brown eyes, to brace himself, and then had taken his crutch and smacked Delon across the face. Delon rubbed the place of impact and felt pain shooting across a large expanse of his left cheek. He would probably have a bruise there by the end of the day.

That cripple would pay.

Almost a second later, Delon grabbed Crutchie and tackled him. Of course, Crutchie was putting up a good fight, but Delon was slowly overwhelming him, especially since he had the use of both of his legs. As they were fighting, Crutchie managed to call out to Romeo and Juliet, who were standing there, frozen in shock, horror, and absolute terror, "Go git Jack, Race, an' Davey! Dey'll…owh!...Dey'll know what ta do!" When the two younger newsies didn't move, he yelled again, "Go git Jack, Race, an' Davey! I'll be alright-go!" Finally, his younger siblings were able to move, and dashed off for the Refuge corner.

Jack, Race, and Davey had had a pretty good selling day, and only had a couple of papers left. They hadn't had too much trouble with the rich boys who were stationed around them, and according to Les and Snitch, neither had the others. They were taunting the newsies, of course, but it wasn't escalating into anything major. They had actually been laughing at the barbs that Anton and Conrad Birden, the two League members closest to them, had sent their way-they had heard worse than that in the past, and it didn't faze them that much anymore.

Suddenly, Davey froze. "Jack…Race…do you hear that?" Both of the newsies stopped talking and stayed still for a moment, soon hearing what Davey was talking about. There were pounding footsteps coming nearer, as if someone-or more than one someone-was running towards them. The three newsies looked around, and their eyes finally landed on Romeo and Juliet, who were running straight for them. The two younger newsies looked positively terrified.

"JACK!" At Romeo's shout, Jack stepped forwards. The younger newsies were breathing hard, so he waited for them to catch their breath, crouching down to meet their eyes at their level, and placing a hand on a shoulder of each. Once they were breathing easier, he asked, "Wat happened? Did da rich boys do somethin'?" Both Romeo and Juliet quickly nodded. Jack could hear Race and Davey suck in breath behind him, but his attention was fixed on his younger siblings. "Wat happened?" he asked again. It took a second, but finally Juliet managed to squeak out, "Some of da rich boys…dey was givin' us a hard time, an' one a dem…Delon, I think…ended up goin' after Crutchie an' insultin' him somethin' terrible. Crutchie smacked 'em in da face with his crutch, but den Delon tackled him and dey started fightin'. Crutchie told us to come an' get da three of you." As soon as she finished speaking, both newsies could see the cold and dark fire that flashed in Jack's eyes. It softened a tiny bit when he looked back at them. "Ya mean Crutchie an' dis…Delon…is fightin' right now?" When the younger newsies nodded, Jack clenched his teeth together. Then, he stood up, squeezing his hands resting on Romeo and Juliet's shoulders. "Thanks for lettin' us know, kids. Ya can come with us iffn' ya want, but Race, Davey, and me got some…work to do." He looked at Race and Davey, who both nodded, the same fire and anger that burned through Jack showing in their eyes. They quickly ran off for the corner, Romeo and Juliet following behind them. When they arrived, they were met with a horrible sight.

Crutchie was hurt.

Bad.

The closest Jack could get to describing his best friend's condition was that he looked like he did at his worst point in the Refuge…if you doubled that, and added in a whole slew of other bruises. As they stood there frozen, Delon stepped up and stomped hard on Crutchie's bad leg. The younger newsie cried out in pain. The snapping sound that followed told the surrounding newsies that Delon had just broken Crutchie's gimp leg. Then, as if to add insult to injury, Delon picked up the younger boy's crutch, and together with Mitchell and Lucius, snapped the crutch in half. They cackled down at the younger newsie…but then suddenly froze. From behind them came a growl, so low and dark that they thought it was a bear or some big animal, before reminding themselves that that was impossible-there were no bears in Manhattan. Their momentary doubt gone, they cockily turned around to see what had growled at them.

And almost mewled in fear.

The three oldest newsies-Jack, Race, and Davey-stood before them. Race and Davey looked positively livid and the boys took a step back at the sight of them. Then, they noticed Jack's face. The newsie leader's face was contorted by rage and anger, and his dark eyes held a fire so dark and hot that the rich boys almost feared for their lives.

"Git away from him. _Now_." Jack murmured darkly. The three rich boys were still terrified, but they put on a false bravado, figuring that Jack would just try to rough them up a little bit, but then would be more concerned with his friend than them. "No. Why do you even care about him anyways-he's just an eyesore of a pest. We're doing you a favor here, you know." Delon crowed, looking proud of what they had done. Jack quickly flicked his eyes down to Romeo and Juliet, before looking back at Delon. "Dat de guy who was goin' afta Crutchie?" he queried, barely moving his mouth. Both of the younger newsies nodded, quietly moving back, so the three older boys had a clear runway. They knew what was going to happen, and they didn't want to be obstacles in the three's path. Another low growl was all the warning The League members got before Jack, Race, and Davey sprinted forwards and launched themselves on the rich boys-Davey on Lucius, Race on Mitchell, and Jack, of course, on Delon. The rich boys tried to put up a fight, but they had severely underestimated the skill and heart that the newsie boys brought to every fight-even Davey, who was more of a book-smart person, had worked with Jack and Race, so that he could hold his own very well in a fight. The three rich boys never stood a chance. Romeo and Juliet ran up and stood in front of Crutchie, who was nearly unconscious on the ground, so that if the rich boys wanted to get to him, they had to go through the younger newsies. Mitchell and Lucius nearly got away from Race and Davey briefly, but Romeo and Juliet fended them off and then shoved them back towards their older brothers, who finished up taking care of them. Mitchell and Lucius ended up running away, multiple bruises between them, and one possibly dislocated shoulder that Davey was particularly proud of. Jack was still pounding Delon, and all four of the other newsies thought for a few seconds that their leader was going to kill the rich boy beneath him. Finally, Race and Davey grabbed Jack from behind, and physically yanked him off of Delon, who quickly took the opportunity to stagger to his feet and run off after his friends. Jack tried to shake off his two friends, but they held firm, not letting him go. "Wat're ya doing?" Jack bellowed, his rage still clear in his voice. "Don'cha care dat dat bastard went afta Crutchie an' nearly beat him to a pulp?"

"Of course we do, Jack. We're just as mad as you are about it. You taught Delon enough of a lesson, though-if they try to hurt one of us, they're going to get what's coming to them, since we protect our own." Here Davey's eyes softened. "But mauling the rich bastard isn't going to do much good, if we don't get Crutchie back home to the Lodging House and take care of him." The sense in Davey's voice and the firm but gentle grips Race and Davey each had on his shoulders slowly calmed Jack's anger and rage until he could see through the red haze that had descended as soon as he had seen Crutchie getting soaked. He took a breath, and worked to relax. When he felt that he wouldn't try to chase after Delon as soon as he was let go, he nodded, and Race and Davey let go. Jack immediately moved over to Crutchie, who was desperately trying to stay conscious. Race followed him, as Davey beckoned the two younger newsies over. "Are you both all right?" he quietly asked them, knowing that Jack and Race would be spending their whole concentration on Crutchie, and wouldn't be able to spare the energy to ask this question of their youngest siblings until it could be too late. Both Romeo and Juliet nodded. "Yeah, we's alright…they didn' hurt us none." Romeo murmured, the shock and terror clearly showing in his voice. Davey turned to look at Juliet, who nodded, tears shining in her eyes, before launching herself at Davey and hugging him as hard as she could. Davey quickly returned the embrace, rubbing his sister's back as she quietly cried. "Easy, Juliet, easy…you're all right, and Crutchie is too. You two got to us in time-he's going to be all right, you'll see. It's all right." He knew that the younger newsie hadn't seen a newsie this badly beaten before (she had been, of course, but she hadn't seen it happen to someone else), and that she was in complete shock and terror, and needed the embrace in order to get out all of her pent-up emotions and try to relax. She was an extremely tactile person, after all. He kept the tight embrace and the hand rubbing her back until he could hear her calming down to the occasional sniffle, and she briefly nodded, slowly moving out of the hug. Davey did as well, but caught her shoulders before she got too far away. "Crutchie's going to be fine-you'll see. He'll be up and complaining about his leg before you know it." Juliet nodded, her tears slowly subsided. Romeo grinned behind her, trying to relax himself. Davey nodded at the both of them, before they all turned to see how Jack and Race were doing with Crutchie. As they walked up, Jack turned to look at them. "Romeo, Juliet-I need you two ta go ta da Lodging House an' git one a da beds ready for Crutchie, since dere's no way in heck dat he's gonna git up ta da roof. Make sure it's on da first level. Den go an' git da doctor dat came da last time an' helped us with ya." Almost before Jack was done giving the order, Romeo and Juliet were racing off, knowing that Jack's orders needed to be followed immediately and without question in this circumstance. Once they were gone, Jack turned to Race and Davey. "Now we gotta git him home somehow…an' I dunno if we can pick him up without hurtin' him." The other two sighed, before racking their brains, all three trying to figure out a way to get Crutchie back without causing him further pain. Then, they heard someone gasping from behind them. "Oh my…those rich boys did a number on him. I have something that might help you." A look revealed a middle-aged man who was working at a shop outside the streets. He rushed inside his store, and after a few seconds re-emergered, carrying a stretcher with him. "This'll help you get him back without aggravating his injuries."

"Thank you, sir." Davey said, taking the outstretched stretcher and helping Jack and Race slowly slide the younger boy on top of it. The shopkeeper nodded. "Think nothing of it-I'm just glad I could help." Jack, who had just gotten to his feet, walked over and shook the man's hand, gratitude shining in his eyes, before heading back to his brothers. Between the three of them, they managed to get Crutchie back to the Lodging House in record time, entering to find the rest of the newsies sitting worriedly waiting for them, and a bed all ready and the doctor standing off to the side. As soon as Crutchie was settled, Jack sent everyone out of the room, leaving Race to keep an eye on them as he and Davey stayed with the doctor. (He kept Davey in the room to translate anything the doctor said that was more "book-smart" than he understood. The doctor took his time looking Crutchie over, being methodical and gentle in his approach, before turning to the worried young men in front of him. "He'll be all right, in time. The injuries he sustained are similar to the ones Juliet accrued in December, but are even more severe. He needs time in bed to heal, and careful treatment of his injuries."

"Davey?"

"Crutchie'll be alright in a while. He's got the same injuries that Juliet got in December, but his are worse. He needs time in bed to heal, and his injuries need to be carefully watched and taken care of." Jack nodded. He had no doubt that the entire family of newsies would take good care of Crutchie. The kid was the gentlest and sweetest of them all, and was the light in the dark tunnel of life that kept them all going. His younger siblings-and older siblings-would do anything for him, and Jack knew that Crutchie would be in good hands. He heard Davey thank the doctor and show him out, probably also alerting the other newsies to Crutchie's condition, while he himself stayed by Crutchie's bedside. He gently grabbed his best friend's hand and sighed. "I'm sorry, Crutch…I'm sorry I wasn' fast enough ta git dere before they soaked ya….or dat I didn' find out earlier an' stop 'em in da first place. I let ya down…an' I'm sorry." He looked down in shame, and then was surprised to feel Crutchie gently squeeze his hand. He looked up to see the younger newsie smiling at him, even though it looked like it hurt. "It ain't your fault, Jack. I's da one who decided ta smack da guy with my crutch…I's da one who made da decisions. It's not your fault." He sighed, looking down. "Make sure ta check on Romeo an' Juliet, ya hear? Dey's sure ta be shooken up afta wat happened." His voice had progressively weakened as he talked, and Jack could tell that he was close to falling asleep. He chuckled gently, reaching up and ruffling Crutchie's hair. "Don' worry, Crutchie-I'll take care a everyone. You jus' worry 'bout gettin' better. Now, go ta sleep. Ya know ya can't git better without rest-an' if ya don', I's gonna sick Mush an' his 'poetry' on ya." (Mush was trying to be the next great poet…emphasis on _trying_.) Crutchie glared at Jack, before closing his eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep. Jack quietly let go of his hand and pulled the covers up over his friend, before leaning up and kissing his forehead. It was the ultimate sign of Jack's affection for someone (except, of course, with Katherine), and he only did it with Crutchie, since it always seemed to comfort and relax the kid.

"You's gonna get better, Crutchie. I promise ya."

 _ **A/N 2: So…who all wants to murder Delon/Mitchell/Lucius? I told ya this chapter was going to be brutal to Crutchie…and the physical whumpage only gets worse from here! The next chapter should be up sometime tomorrow, and I'll let you all know how Wicked went! (only 5 hours until curtain…YAY!) I should be uploading a chapter each day for this week until Thursday, which is the day I move into college. I'll be doing orientation stuff for the whole week, and then classes start that Monday. I think Thursday will be Chapter 8, so I'll try to start it on Wednesday, but it might not be published until late Thursday night/early Friday morning. The next chapter doesn't have any whumpage, so it should be a nice reprive until it begins again!**_ __

 _ **I hope you enjoyed this chapter…see you next chapter!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_

 _ **P.S-if any of you readers are good at drawing, I've been wanting to use a picture of Crutchie (as played by Andrew Keenan-Bolger) and Juliet snuggling as the cover photo for "A Refuge of Nightmares". If any of you would be able to draw that, I will gladly use it as the cover photo!**_


	4. A Load of Hogwash

**A/N: Hello, everybody! I had a fantastic time at Wicked yesterday…it was SO FANTASTICLY AMAZINGLY WICKEDLY GOOD! ;) I had a ton of fun with my friend Ashley, and we even got to "stage door" (wait outside the stage door for the actors to come out) and get a bunch of autographs-including some of the ensemble cast, Boq, and Elphaba!** **:D It inspired me to keep trying to get onstage, which includes auditioning for "Scrooge the Musical" in…three weeks, I think? ;) As well as getting this story out, because I was with my friend Ashley…who got to see Newsies on Broadway…and meet Corey Cott. #whycan'tIhaveherlife?**

 **Anyways, this chapter is a lot of talking between the newsies…there's not really much action until the next one…so…yep…be prepared for lots of talking! It's kind of nice not to write some whumping...because it really ramps up in the next chapter. Also, just as a heads up, the next chapter starts the 7 straight chapters….just as a heads up. Also, Chapter 9 might be a little delayed coming out, because I'm moving into college on Thursday, and that's when that chapter would be posted.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL-I JUST FOUND OUT THAT EVAN KASPERZACK (original Elmer…) IS PART OF THE TOURING CAST OF NEWSIES (so hopefully I don't accidently mention that I dragged his name through the mud in TNG…)**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, poor Crutchie indeed…I was rushing to get to that point, and then I stopped, realizing what I was doing…** **Yeah, Jack nearly mauled the guy, so he probably broke multiple things. The crutch to the face should at least bruise, if not worse…No problem! Basically Hulu is a website where we can watch shows…so it's kind of like TV, but for your computer. I haven't personally used it, but I know people who have. Yikes-that's not a lot of sleep at all! I haven't tried that, but I probably should! (Although that's normally when I'm finishing up chapters, so…Yeah, the rich boys are total idiots…and popcorn is soooo much better than gloves! Hopefully this chapter is good!**

 **FansieFace: Yeah…while I was writing him, I was thinking along the same lines of you…I couldn't kill him then, but who knows? I'm also not sure if Crutchie will be heal completely before the story enough to soak the guy…but we'll see. Yeah-there's more whumping to come, but not this chapter! Yeah, I enjoyed Wicked (as seen above… ;) ) Hopefully this update satisfies you, and you don't tie me to a chair!**

 **S. Castro: Yeah-I didn't think anyone could be worse than them, but The League are complete and utter monsters! They'll get what's coming to them…but not yet. There's a good deal of whumping to do yet. I don't think the papers would get sold without the newsies, so them going extinct would be a major problem! Thank you-and you're welcome! You were one of the people who reviewed almost every chapter of TNG consistently….which automatically means you're one of the "Core Three/Four"!**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 4!**

" _You's gonna git better, Crutchie. I promise ya."_

About thirty minutes later, Jack exited the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Race and Davey stood outside the door, making sure none of the other newsies disturbed them. "How is he?" Race queried. Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, it ain't good news, I can tell's ya dat. He's got da same injuries almost as Juliet had, but dey's worse den hers." Race let out a low hiss, his anger starting to emerge again, and fill him with the desire to go track those rich boys down and murder them where they stood. Both Jack and Davey recognized what he was thinking, though, and they both placed a hand on Race's shoulders until he was able to calm himself. "He's gonna be alright, Race-we jus' have ta take good care a him, which I know we's all gonna do." Jack murmured. Race nodded, trying to relax his anger. Once he knew his lieutenant wasn't going to go and do anything stupid, Jack slowly turned to face the other newsies. Almost instantly, he was bombarded with questions like, "How is Crutchie?" and "Is he okay?" and "Is we's jus' gonna let those monsters git away with soakin' Crutchie?" Jack held up a hand, and everyone immediately quieted.

"I gotta tell ya…he ain't doin' so good." Jack sighed. "He's got almost da same injuries dat Juliet did…but his is worse." The newsies gasped in shock and horror, and immediately side conversations broke out everywhere. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack could see Romeo and Juliet. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Juliet gasped in fear and shock, and started trembling. Romeo looped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close, kissing her forehead to calm her and whispering something that Jack couldn't hear, but knew was meant to calm her down. Jack made a mental note to check on them later.

"He's gonna git better, right?" Albert queried. Jack grinned (if it was a forced smile that didn't reach his eyes, no one said anything), and nodded. "Yeah, he's gonna git better, but we's gotta take good care a him-which I know all a ya'll do, right?" Every single newsie nodded vigorously. Jack then turned towards the two youngest newsies (besides Les and Snitch). "Juliet-can ya come here for a second? I jus' wanna ask ya somethin'." he asked kindly. It took a few seconds (and a gentle squeeze from Romeo), but their younger sister slowly got up and shyly made her way over to Jack. As soon as she made it, Jack crouched down to her eye level.

"Juliet-ya an' Snitch recognized Anton from somewhere, right?" Juliet nodded. Jack grinned at her. "I was jus' wonderin'…how do ya two know him?" Juliet smiled sadly, and nodded.

"We was playmates back in da day. When I still lived with my parents, dey an' da Mersons was good friends. Dey would often git tagether for parties an' stuff, and Anton, Snitch, an' I was left ta amuse ourselves. We was frequently playin' tagether, even though he is eight years oldar den myself, an' ten years oldar den Snitch. We was around each other a lot."

"And it carried on after you got left, too." Snitch said from near the front. "Even after you got stuck under the bridge, Mother and Father still hung out with the Mersons a great deal, and Anton and I were stuck spending time together. Whenever I would see him on the streets, though, he was always with one of his League friends."

"Da people wat beat Crutchie up?" Specs queried from across the room. Snitch nodded, his scowl showing what he thought of Anton. "Yes. He talked about it a lot, about how it was the "next great world order" and that the twelve men in it were going to change the world and make it a better place…for people like them. I asked him about people who were socially lower than they were, like us, and he just laughed, and then looked at me and said, 'What good are those people, James, but to serve at our every whim? Our progress will move the world forward, but we need labor to do the jobs we would never dream of doing.' Whenever he tried to talk to me about it after that, I just tuned him out."

"Did he eva try ta recruit ya for it?" Buttons asked curiously. Snitch thought about it for a second, and then nodded. "Not exactly, but yeah-he told me that there was a spot open for me whenever I decided to take my 'true place' as a 'gentleman of wealth and power'." The other newsies swore under their breath. "Dat man's a bastard…even was when we was kids." Juliet added. Suddenly, Snitch turned to his sister. "Juliet…didn't you have a….a thing…or something with Anton, when we were younger?" Juliet blushed bright red, and then muttered, "Dat was when we was _kids_ , Snitch-an' it was never gonna work out anyway, even if our parents wanted ta marry me off ta him." Everyone looked at her, shocked, and she growled, rolling her eyes. "It's wat rich people do, ya know-assign deir children deir marriage partners before dey can even talk, so dat dey can keep all da wealth an' power dey have in deir family-an' git even more." She shuddered. "I may of had a 'thing', but it didn' last very long, an' I was freakin' SIX at da time, so…I was a kid!" Jack chuckled warmly, resting a hand on Juliet's shoulder as he did so. "Don' worry kid-we all goes through dose phases-especially Romeo, but he goes through ten every day!" The other newsies laughed, and Juliet was able to stop her blushing a little and laugh along. Romeo simply shrugged-he couldn't deny the truth.

A few seconds later, a rather hurried knock sounded at the door. The newsies looked confusedly at each other-they weren't expecting anyone that day. When the knock came again, Henry-at Jack's nod-headed over and opened it. When they all realized that their mysterious guest was only Katherine, they visibly and audibly sighed in relief.

"Jack-I heard about Crutchie-is he all right?" Katherine asked. She was extremely worried for the younger newsie, who was always so kind and gentle to her, and had been from the start, even though she was Pulitzer's daughter. Jack nodded. "He's beat up pretty bad, but he's gonna be fine, so long as we looks afta him." Katherine visibly relaxed-but then tensed up again. "That's good news…but I'm afraid that's not the only reason for my visit."

"What do you mean?" Davey questioned. Katherine sighed, reaching into her bag and pulling out a paper. "This is the front page of 'The Journal' for tomorrow. I was over there today, and when they let me see what the headline was, I knew I had to show you all." She handed it to Jack, who quickly read it, his eyes darkening as he did so. Once he finished, he let Race take a look (who _very_ audibly cursed under his breath), before handing it over to Davey, telling him to read it to everyone. Davey skimmed through it, unconsciously clenching his hands on the paper while he read, before taking a deep breath, and reading it out loud.

" _In the borough of Manhattan, or Flushing, or the Bronx, or any of the others, there is one common sight throughout each one-the newsie. These young boys and girls stand on almost every street corner, bellowing out the headlines for that day's paper, and urging pedestrians to purchase one for only fifty cents. They often work long hours, and whatever little pay they get must immediately go towards buying the next day's papers. Most New Yorkers don't ever realize the immense burden that is placed upon these often orphaned children. However, twelve esteemed members of society are attempting to change that._

 _The 'League of Gentlemen' is comprised of twelve members-Anton Merson, Nixon Warden, Lukas Rowlin, Oscar Morrison, Rito Revoltan, Jaden Coldfrost, Mitchell Renard Smith, William Tailen, Lucius Mannon, Delon Underbridge, Jordan Harris, and Conrad Birden. They took notice of the newsies' plight during their strike five months ago, and then again in December when there was a lawsuit filed against them._

' _It's just horrible that these poor children are forced to work all hours of the day for little pay, food, and shelter,' said William Tailen, 23. 'They do an important job in our fair city, and without them the distribution of papers would not happen. They deserve better.'_

 _As all New Yorkers know, talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. The League of Gentlemen also knows this, and has made great strides to help the newsies, starting in the borough of Manhattan._

' _We wanted to find a way to help, and we figured, what better way to help the newsies then to take some of that burden off of them?' said Rito Revoltan, 24. 'We decided to take some of the papers and give them away to people, since we can afford to without having to worry about buying them the next morning. In this small way, we feel that we are not only serving the newsie community, but are enriching their lives, and making the world a brighter place for them.'_

 _According to the League, their efforts have been met with gratitude and thanks by the newsie community. 'Every newsie we passed or saw on the streets today," explained Jordan Harris, 21, 'thanked us for assisting them, and had nothing but good things to say to us. If this is what doing something small leads to, imagine what something even greater could lead to? Perhaps the newsies would no longer be penniless orphans living on the street, but would able to climb higher in the social echelon of Manhattan.'_

 _Depending on the success of their venture in Manhattan, the League plans to expand into other boroughs, beginning with Brooklyn. None of the newsies could be reached to comment on this story, but this reporter is willing to bet that they are just as happy as the League members say they are to shed some of their heavy burden, and to-one day-have the possibility to climb higher in the social order of life."_

Utter silence reigned supreme in the Living Room for at least thirty seconds, broken only by the crackling sound of the paper as Davey slowly mashed it into a ball and then crushed it even further. Finally, Race spoke up. "So, dey ain't even gonna try ta talk ta us, but are jus' gonna believe anathin' dat comes out of dem rich boys' mouths? Lotta hogswash, dat is." The other newsies nodded, grumbling amongst themselves that the public (or at least, those who read 'The Journal') would believe that The League was doing them a great favor, and that the newsies were grateful for it, without ever hearing the newsies' side of things. Jack was trying to control his anger, and to not punch a hole through the nearby wall, but it was a very near thing. "Dey is…wat dey is…dey's a pack'a liars, dat's wat dey is." Everyone else nodded, Katherine among them. "I tried to get them not to publish the story until they had talked with any of you, but they said that they sent people to the Lodging House around two o' clock in the afternoon, and since none of you were here, they were going to go ahead and publish it anyways." She sighed, clearly ashamed that another reporter would do their job so poorly that they wouldn't even wait until the newsies could actually talk to them before printing the story. "I only hope they don't get wind of Crutchie being hurt-they would have a field day with that, and he doesn't need that kind of stress right now." _That_ was something, she could tell, every single newsie agreed with her on.

"So watta we do now?" Finch asked. Jack sighed, trying to organize his thoughts before he spoke, and hoping his voice didn't crack. "First, we's gonna git ta bed early tonight, an' try ta git ta da distribution center before dose idiots do. Den, someone is gonna stay here an' look out for Crutchie while de rest a us go sell. Iffn' anyone asks us 'bout de 'Journal' article, we's gonna tell dem wat we really think. An' hopefully," here he turned his eyes to Katherine, "we can git an article out 'bout how we really feels 'bout this League of Idiots." His girlfriend smiled, and nodded. "It would be my honor to stab them in the heart…with a pen." she declared.

Now that they had a plan, the newsies felt a bit better, and after making sure for the last time that Crutchie was truly all right, they started to spread out into little groups, either to talk or play cards or what have you until they went to bed. Before Romeo could head off, Jack beckoned him over to where he was standing with Race, Davey, and Juliet.

"I wanna thank ya two for comin' an' getting' me an' da boys." Jack said seriously, looking the two younger newsies in the eyes. "Iffn' ya hadn', Crutchie could've bin hurt a lot worse…or could be gone. He's safe thanks ta ya."

"But he almost wasn'!" Juliet protested. "Iffn' we hadn' made de rich boys mad, dey wouldn' have gone afta him, an' he would be perfectly fine!" Jack looked at Romeo, whose eyes showed that he was going through the same dilemma in his head. Jack sighed. "Look, kid, ya may be right, but we's all knew dat dere was gonna be some sort a fight sometime before dis was all over, an' it jus' happened ta happen ta Crutchie. It ain't your fault dat you was trying ta stand up ta dem, an' it ain' your fault dat Crutchie had ta hit him with his crutch ta protect you two. It happened, an' it's bad...but ya did good. Both of ya. Ya hear me?" After a few seconds, both younger newsies nodded. Jack looked up at Davey. "Dey alright, Davey?"

"Yes-they said that nothing happened to them, that Crutchie took the brunt of it for them." Race let out a low hiss. "Dey's got no morals at all, if dey's comin' afta you three." When Romeo and Juliet looked at him, confused, he grinned (although it looked rather strange, because he still had a cigar sticking out of his mouth). "Dey probably said something 'bout ya bein' da weakest of us, an' dat we don' care 'bout ya, right?" At the two nods, he continued, "Well, wat dey didn' realize was dat it's da complete opposite. Sure, we all cares 'bout everybody, but we 'specially care for you three-an' Les an' Snitch. Y'all keep us old fogies from gettin' too down in da dumps, an' keep life…interestin'. Plus, y'all is our baby siblings-an' ain't nuthin' gonna happen ta our baby siblings on our watch." Romeo and Juliet beamed at Race's words (and nearly laughed at Jack's, "Old fogies, is it? I'll show you who's an old fogie!"). Jack ruffled both of their hair, before standing back up. "Come on, kiddos…let's go see how many times we's can beat Elmer at Go Fish. He ain't won in two months!" The younger newsies chuckled, and ran off, leading their three older brothers.

If there was one thing Jack knew for certain, it was this.

No one would hurt a member of his family and get away with it.

No one.

 _ **A/N 2: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it was mostly talking, but I needed this chapter to set up other things down the road. I also hope Race's explanation made sense…I was trying to show how the newsies were protective of all of their family members-but especially Crutchie and their "baby" siblings-Les, Snitch, Romeo, and Juliet. I also apologize for this chapter getting out so late…I woke up at 10 something, after getting home from Wicked at 11:40pm, and then watched the newest episode of Power Rangers Dino Charge at noon, and then immediately went to pick my dad up at the airport, and then was packing up for college. I passed by my computer, and was like, "Okay, I don't want to write this chapter right now…but I gotta, or else I won't get it out for like two days or something…" and then I just got sucked back in. These stories tend to do that…**_

 _ **The next chapter should be out sometime tomorrow…and there is also a ginormous WHUMPAGE WARNING for it! I'll try not to give too much away, but I'll say this-Crutchie is about to get some roommates very soon. I'll let you guys try to figure out who it/they is/are until the chapter is up tomorrow!**_

 _ **See you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_

" _Jack! JACK!" At Juliet's shout, Jack quickly turned around._

" _Wat is it, kid?" he murmured, taking in Juliet's tearstained face. It took her a while to respond, but she finally was able to choke out, "Dem rich boys…dey did it again…and dis time…it's bad. It's really bad."_


	5. Can We Panic Now?

**A/N: Hello, all! Sorry this chapter took so long to come out again…I honestly started working on it last night (starting with the soaking-why on earth did I do that?), and then worked on it a bit more before I left for church at 10:55, and then started again around 3 something…so I've been writing for 2 hours straight. That might explain why my butt is numb. ;) Hopefully this chapter lives up to all of the hype I've given it…and hopefully you all really want to soak The League after this…cause if not….that would be a problem. Or you could just be a sadistic bastard like me who likes seeing the newsies getting hurt (okay, I have to write it, or I have no story…but I also have a guilty pleasure of whumping all of the characters). As my friend KayValo87 (who is a master of whump) told me a long time ago, "You can tell who your favorite characters are, because you can't wait to read about them getting beaten up." ;) That's why I like hurt/comfort fics so much! Anyways….also, happy kickoff to 7 straight chapters of cliffhangers!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL I'M JUST APPARENTLY VERY GOOD AT WHUMPING THEM!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah…hopefully this chapter makes up for that! Or….it probably won't…but, ya know…no problem! Yeah, I like writing super protective older newsies, cause I figured that the older boys would watch over their younger siblings a lot…and it makes for great relationships and feels!** **Yeah…I'm not sure who you're thinking of, but if you're right…I'm sorry! I tend to be a shamless whumper…but yeah, Jack is going to go after the boy** _ **s**_ **with a vengeance…maybe not this chapter, but definitely soon! No problem! I'm glad too—I haven't been to see a show in a while, so it was fun to go out with a fellow musical geek and see a fantastic show. I agree-creativity often comes at night…as does all of my energy. It might be why I'm not a morning person… ;) You're welcome…hopefully you still have some nails by the time this story is done! The next chapter should be out sometime tomorrow!**

 **FansieFace: Haha…hopefully you don't die soon! Sorry, I tried to resolve it…but I couldn't resist throwing that preview of whumpage in! Haha… ;) That's good, cause it means I'm doing my job as a writer…just wait until this chapter is done! Thanks-the relationships between the boys and the boys/Juliet are really fun to write, and it's fun to see how a "family by choice" differs from a "family by blood" (they may not be biological siblings, but that's what they've chosen to be…if that makes sense). I definitely try to post soon…the only time I might take a while is on Thursday…and looking at my plan…holy crap you all will hate me, depending on how long it takes me to get it out! Haha…don't freak out too much, Hulu-I still need FansieFace to write awesome reviews! Yeah, Wicked was fantastic. I forgot about ScarecrowFiyero and TinmanBoq until watching the show, and then was like "oh yeah, that's a thing…" ;) When did you go see Newsies? (Like, which part was Andy playing at that point? ;) ) Yeah-stagedooring is so fun…and I'm going to do it when Newsies comes next year, so I can get Evan Kasperzack's autograph!**

 **S. Castro: Yeah, The League is a bunch of vile monsters…and they're strangely fun to write…but you're right-seriously, 'Journal'? Really? Hopefully Pulitzer will be helping them soon! As for who's getting injured in this chapter…let's just say that one of the newsies you specifically named is one. The other…well, you'll see! Yeah, stagedooring was super fun…and most all of my friends are musical geeks, so it works out! And Wicked was so good! Haha…hopefully you enjoy these next 7 chapters!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT AND MAJOR (GINORMUSLY HUGE) WHUMPAGE WARNING!**

 **Enjoy** _ **"A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 5!**

" _If there was one thing Jack knew for certain, it was this. No one would hurt a member of his family and get away with it. No one."_

The next morning, Jack sent all of the newsies to the distribution center. He hung back for a second to talk to Race. "I'm gonna go talk ta Pulitzer-see wat he knows 'bout any a dis, an' if he's agreein' ta it or not. You's in charge 'till I gets back." Race nodded, and then slapped him on the back as he headed out. It didn't take Jack too long to get to Pulitzer's office from the distribution center, but he was glad for the walk, in order to clear his head. When dealing with Joseph Pulitzer, one needed to know exactly what they were going to say, since the man was not one to waste time. Pulitzer's staff looked at him strangely when he asked to see their boss, but they finally allowed him access to the office, where the man was sitting behind his desk.

"Jack? I'm surprised you're not out selling-is there something the matter?" Pulitzer queried. Jack solemmly nodded his head. "Yeah, Mr. Pulitzer-dere is. Dere's dese rich boys comin' 'round and hecklin' my family, an' takin' half a da papes we's supposed ta sell an' givin' 'em 'way for free, since dey can afford to buy de ones da next day." He took a breath, and then continued. "Wat I wants ta know is-did ya give da rich boys da okay ta do dat?" Pulitzer sat there for a few moments, thinking, and then sudden recognition flashed across his face. "You mean 'The League of Gentlemen', don't you."

"Yes, sir-dey's takin' half a our papes, an' hecklin' an' tauntin' da newsies-an' even beat Crutchie up yesterday." Pulitzer stepped back in shock.

"They beat Crutchie up? How bad is it?"

"Accordin' ta da doc, it's almost da same as when Juliet got soaked, but worse." Pulitzer sighed. Then, he looked at Jack. "I promise you, Jack-I never have, and never will have, any relationships or dealings with any League members. I did not give them my approval to sell papers, nor to give them away for free. Oscar and Morris should not have let them take any papers, and I will make sure to tell them that." Jack stared at him, as if trying to make absolutely certain that Pulitzer was telling the truth, but he could see nothing but truth in the man's eyes. "I assure you, Jack-I had nothing to do with those rich boys, and I want them gone as much as you do." Jack sighed thankfully. He had begun to trust the man a little more when he helped them win the lawsuit against the Comstocks, but…old habits die hard-and didn't Jack know it.

The newsies sold well that day, and everyone was in much higher spirits. Of course, The League members were more vicious than ever, and fights nearly broke out on several corners, but the newsies made sure to attempt (emphasis on _attempt_ ) not to sink to the rich boys' level. They also didn't want to give the rich boys the satisfaction that their taunts were getting to them. Lastly, they didn't want to give Jack anyone else to have to worry about. Race had told Elmer and Snitch to take care of Crutchie while the rest of them were out selling, and no one wanted to add another downed newsie to the list. As soon as they were done selling, they all booked it back to the Lodging House as fast as they could, trying not to run into any of The League members on their way.

Well, all except for two. Specs had scrounged up enough money to buy a new pair of glasses, and he had dragged Romeo along with him. It had taken a while for the shopkeeper to find a pair that fit him, and so it had grown rather dark as the two walked along. They were keeping an eye out, since they didn't want to run into anyone. The streets of Manhattan were dangerous enough during the day, but during the night it was especially dangerous. Which was one of the reasons Jack always walked Katherine home if she ended up at the Lodging House after dark…but not the only reason. The two were talking quietly, before they heard a noise coming from behind them. They hurriedly whipped around, but they didn't see anything, so they turned back around-and crashed into a solid body.

"Hey! Watch were ya's goin'!" Romeo cried, looking up to see who he had run into-and stopping dead. Two members (Jordan Harris and Lukas Rowlin) of The League were standing in from of them, leering. The two boys looked around and noticed five other members encircling them. "Well…I's thinkin' we's gotta problem here…" Specs muttered to his brother, who nodded. "We's gotta git outta here-now." Romeo murmured back. The two jumped to their feet and tried to run, but Jordan pushed them down to the ground again. "You're not getting out of here so easily, newsie filth. You haven't learned your lesson yet…and we're strict teachers. We can't let a lesson go unlearned. Plus, payback must be given for the horrendous abuse suffered by Delon, Mitchell, and Lucius yesterday."

"An' wat lesson would dat be?" Specs asked, glaring defiantly up at the rich boys. He had already determined that if this did break out into a fight, he would try to take the worst of it on himself, since he was older. All of the older newsies were extremely protective of the newsies who were younger than them, and would take a worse beating than their younger siblings if they had to to protect them.

"What do you think-that you are the lowest of the low, and that in order for Manhattan-and the city as a whole-to rise to its full potential, you must be eliminated from the equation." Lukas sneered. Specs and Romeo both chuckled. "Ya must not know much 'bout us den-we don' give up easy. Not without a fight." Romeo declared. The seven League members smirked at him as they closed in around the two boys. "Good-because that's exactly what we want." And with that, they jumped the two boys. Both Specs and Romeo fought incredibly hard, breaking multiple bones and causing much damage between the two of them, but the fact that they were outnumbered slowly took its toll. By the time The League members scampered off, happy with their outing, even with broken bones and bruises and lacerations all over their bodies. Specs was left leaning up against a building on the side of the road, and Romeo was lying near him. Both boys were extremely hurt, and Specs was sad to see that while he had tried to take most of the beating once the fight began to go against the two newsies, it looked like Romeo was even worse off than he was. In addition, Specs was still conscious, although the darkness was trying to overwhelm him.

Unfortunately, Romeo had lost that fight a while ago. The younger newsie, lying off to Spec's left, was most definitely unconscious, and no amount of pinching or prodding from Specs (or as much as he could do while leaning against the building) had any effect on him. Specs sighed. He was beginning to lose consciousness, but right before he did, he thought he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him, and then pounding away. The sound was fleeting, however, and he convinced himself that he had just imagined it. As he slowly drifted off, his last thought was that he had let Romeo down.

"It's almost nine o' clock….it shouldn't take Specs and Romeo that long to get a pair of glasses and then come back here." Davey murmured. The rest of the newsies were back in the Lodging House, playing an extremely loud game of Egyptian Ratscrew. All except for Jack, Race, Davey, Crutchie, and Juliet, that was. Crutchie, of course, was still banged up incredibly badly, and while Jack finally agreed to move his bed out to the Living Room for a while so that he could be with his brothers, he wasn't about to allow Crutchie to play a game where one of the main points of the game was slapping. Which always degenerated into the newsies slapping each other silly. Juliet wasn't playing because she often preferred to sit and watch, and not to play. She called it her "me bubble" time, where she could be near the others, and still have her own little space. Today, however, she couldn't settle down, nervous about Romeo's continued absence. She was worried about Specs, of course, since the two were good friends and often hung out after they finished selling, but Romeo…Romeo had been her closest friend ever they started selling together, and she couldn't stop herself from worrying that something bad had happened, and that he was lying injured or worse somewhere.

Jack nodded. "Yeah…either dey got lost, which would never happen in a million years, cause dey know da streets too well, or dey's in trouble somewhere." He looked again at Juliet, who was trying-but failing-to hide her extreme nervousness. Jack sighed. "I's gotta idea. You two stay here an' watch ova dem. Juliet'n me'll go look for Specs an' Romeo."

"Jus' da two a ya? At least take Davey-he can stick with Juliet if y'all eva need ta split up." Race muttered. Jack looked over at Davey, who nodded in support of Race's plan. "Alright den-let's git goin'." Jack said, before making his way over to Juliet. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded, coming over to join the older boys at the door as they headed out. For a while, they kept together down the streets, looking as hard as they could, but not seeing anything. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that it would be faster if they split up and covered more ground-Jack going one way, and Davey and Juliet going the other. As they walked along, Juliet and Davey kept their eyes peeled, but they didn't see any signs of Romeo or Specs.

Until Juliet saw two men slinking off into the darkness on a nearby side street. She nudged Davey and pointed at the two men, and they quietly headed towards the men, being sure to stay quiet. When they arrived at the spot where they had seen the men, there was nothing. "Dose men was parta da League-I's sure of it!" Juliet murmured. Davey nodded his head in agreement. "I know-I've seen them before. I just don't know what they were doing here." Both of the newsies began to look around, trying to figure out what business The Leage members had at this hour of the night.

Juliet saw them first. There was a street light up ahead, and its light shone directly over Specs and Romeo. The young newsie gasped in horror. "Oh no…no no no….no!" She ran over to the older boys, Davey following close behind. When they got close enough, and they could see clearly all of the injuries the two boys had received, they both let out strangled gasps of horror and terror. Romeo was clearly unconscious, and Specs fell unconscious right as they ran up. Davey was livid with anger, and was so enraged that he punched the nearest thing to him. Which turned out not to be a good idea-since it was the metal pole of the streetlight. He winced in pain, shaking his hand. Then, he looked over at Juliet. His younger sister was extremely angry, like he felt, but there was another emotion showing itself all over her face. Juliet was devastated. Here were two of the newsies that she was extremely close to, both unconscious and lying (or sitting) next to puddles of blood that may or may not be theirs, and dozens of injuries between the two. The young girl began to breathe faster and faster, sweat beginning to drip down her face (and rubbing it with her sleeve only seemed to make it worse), grimacing as she held her chest, as if she was in pain, and started to tremble. Davey gulped. He could tell what was happening-Juliet was having a panic attack. He wasn't exactly sure how to stop it-he just knew he had to get her out of there. Someone needed to go get Jack, after all.

"Juliet-I need you to go get Jack. He needs to know what happened to Specs and Romeo, and someone needs to stay with him until he gets here. I'll stay here and watch over them while you go find Jack." The younger girl shook her head, violently protesting his words, but Davey walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders, crouching down to both meet her eye level and block her view of the two boys. "Juliet-I need you to go get Jack. Specs and Romeo will be all right, I promise you, but we need to get Jack and get them out of here as fast as we can-and you're a much faster runner than I am. I need you to go find Jack and bring him here…it's the best way you can help Specs and Romeo." Juliet tried to look around Davey, but he knew what she was doing and simply shifted his body, blocking her view again and again. "Juliet, I need you to go- _now_. The longer Jack takes to get here, the longer it will be until we can get Specs and Romeo back to the Lodging House and get them help." Davey may not have been the newsies' leader, or their lieutenant, but he was a member of the "Core Four", the inner circle of newsies (that also included Jack, Race, and Crutchie), and he put a little of that authority into his voice. It took a few moments, but Juliet finally nodded, turned around, and ran off in the direction that Jack had been going. Davey sighed, slowly getting to his feet and moving over to stand in front of the two younger newsies. The rich boys wouldn't get near the two of them again tonight-he would make sure of that.

Juliet raced down the streets, trying to find Jack as quickly as she could. There were some…unsavory characters…that leered at her from across the road and she heard some catcalls, but she pushed it all to the back of her brain, her sole focus finding Jack. It took somewhere around five minutes-which was five minutes too long-but she finally found him down one of the side streets.

"Jack! JACK!" At Juliet's shout, Jack quickly turned around.

"Wat is it, kid?" he murmured, taking in Juliet's tearstained face. It took her a while to respond, but she was finally able to choke out, "Dem rich boys…dey did it again…an' dis time…it's bad. It's really bad." A second later, she was running off, Jack following her. They quickly made it over to where Davey stood protectively over the two younger newsies. As soon as Jack saw how bad their injuries were, he _very_ audibly cursed under his breath. "Da League is gonna pay. I don' know how, but dey is gonna pay. Even iffn' I has ta kill all a 'em, dey's gonna pay." Jack's overprotective nature was on fire, and both Davey and Juliet could tell. Juliet's temper was flaring up bright red and hot, and Davey was very close to exploding himself. Jack was already there. "Iffn' I sees whoeva did dis…dey isn' gonna be walkin' outta dere. I ain't gonna let dem touch any of ya again, an' I sure as hell ain't gonna let dem waltz right in like dey own da streets an' knock us out like dis again." The other two newsies nodded, feeling the same way. Then, Davey turned to Jack. "Jack," he whispered, so quietly that Juliet couldn't hear him, "we need to get her out of here. Have her go get Race and bring him here…just get her out of here."

"Why?" Jack queried back, not exactly comprehending. Davey sighed, looking down at the two injured newsies. "Well," he explained, "not only because it's Specs…but especially because it's Romeo. She started having a panic attack earlier, and the only thing I could think of to do was to send her to go find you. The longer she stays here, the more she's at risk for a nervous breakdown-and none of us want that." Jack nodded, realizing that, while Crutchie's soaking was horrific for the young girl, this was even worse, because the two injured newsies were her two best friends. It was extremely personal for her, and Jack could already tell that she was trembling just being near her friends' unconscious forms again. Jack nodded. "Iffn' ya can keep her from seein' dem, I'll git her outta here." he muttered back. Davey nodded, and the two boys immediately moved-Davey to block Juliet's view again, and Jack to stand in front of her. "Hey, kiddo…I's got an important job for ya ta do, alright?" Juliet looked up at Jack, tears flowing down her face. "…Yeah?" she asked, in a very small and quiet voice. Jack squeezed her shoulder. "Ya wanta help Specs an' Romeo, right?" At her nod, he continued. "Den, I's gotta mission for ya-I need ya ta git back ta da Lodging House, an' git Race. I don' care if he's sleepin', just tell him dat dere was a soakin', an' we need his help-an' ta bring dat stretcher we used for Crutchie. Ya think ya can do dat?" His gentle and calm voice seemed to soothe his sister's fears slightly, and she slowly nodded. Jack squeezed her shoulder again. "Alright-good girl. Now git goin'-we's gonna be here when Race an' ya git back." The younger girl flashed a brief glance at Davey, who nodded at her, before nodding herself, and taking off for the Lodging House. Jack turned around, and together he and Davey crouched down by the unconscious newsies and tried to take care of what injuries they could, since the doctor wouldn't be able to come by until the next day anyways (he was in the middle of helping a young woman give birth, and would probably be busy until the next day).

When Juliet opened the door to the Lodging House, it was very quiet. From the looks of the Living Room, the other newsies had been sent to bed a while ago, and the only two still up were Race and Crutchie, who were quietly conversing off to one side. At the sound of the door, both newsies looked up. "Juliet-did ya find dem?" Race questioned. His sister nodded, and stepped a little further into the room. As she came further into the light, the older newsies could clearly see the tears that were still trickling down her face. Race and Crutchie looked at each other and sighed. "Dose rich boys got ta dem, didn' dey?" Crutchie asked. Juliet nodded, swallowing a few times. "Jack wants ya…ta come help him cause….dey's hurt really bad. He wants ya ta…bring da stretcher too."

"How bad are dey?" the newsie lieutenant asked. Juliet swallowed again, more tears leaking out of her eyes as she choked out, "It's really bad…really bad. Dey's both unconscious, an' Jack an' Davey can' wake neither a dem." Almost before she had finished speaking, Race had jumped up, grabbed the stretcher, and opened the door. "Ya gonna be alright on your own, Crutch?"

"Yeah, I's gonna be fine-go git Specs an' Romeo." Crutchie replied. Race nodded, and he and Juliet headed out. As Juliet lead Race up to the spot, Race made a sound in his throat like a dying cat, and nearly gagged. "Dey's…dey's gone too far dis time." he muttered darkly. Jack and Davey nodded, and shifted slightly, allowing Race to slide in with them. "We's gotta git dem back ta da Lodging House…but we haveta take 'em one at a time…we's only got one stretcher." Jack quietly breathed. The three older newsies quickly looked at each other, and nodded. They would take Romeo first, since he was the most injured, and Specs would never let them forget it if they took him first, and left the younger and more injured newsie to go second. The three boys slowly and gently shifted Romeo onto the stretcher, but suddenly stopped, as he let out a mewl of pain, and then his eyes began to flicker open.

"'Ey, Romeo…you're alright. Can ya open your eyes for me? Your sister's worried 'bout ya." Jack quietly murmured, keeping a hand on Romeo's shoulder to keep him from moving. Everyone had their eyes glued on the young boy, who-after a lot of effort-was able to open his eyes. Jack sighed in relief, and he could hear the other three newsies doing it as well. "'Ey dere, buddy…how ya doin'?" the newsie leader asked. It looked like a lot of effort, but Romeo finally muttered, "Well…I's had better days." The other newsies let out a weak chuckle at that. "Specs okay?" the younger newsie queried, to which Jack nodded.

"Yeah-he's banged up pretty bad, like you, but he's gonna be alright, jus' like you is." Romeo quietly exhaled in relief. The three older newsies looked at each other for a second, and then Davey said, "Romeo…do you remember who attacked you two? Were they members of The League, or…"

"Yeah, dey was…I recognized all seven a dem." At Romeo's declaration, the four other newsies all let out strangled gasps. "Ya mean…Specs an' ya…got jumped by _seven_ rich boys?" Race asked, his anger making his voice a little harsher than normal. Romeo nodded, closing his eyes slightly as he slowly started to lose consciousness. Jack squeezed his shoulder. "Jus' rest now, kid-we got'cha, an' dose rich boys ain't never gonna touch ya again." Romeo weakly grinned at him, before fully closing his eyes and falling unconscious again. Jack and Race swore under their breath. Davey looked like he wanted to, but he usually tried not to swear if he could help it. "Dey got set on by seven League members…dey's all gonna pay. All a dem." Race declared.

The three older boys got the two injured newsies back to the Lodging House fairly quickly, Race standing guard with Juliet while Jack and Davey took Romeo, and then Race and Jack took Specs, Davey and Juliet following behind. Both times as they entered, Crutchie gasped in horror at the condition the two newsies were in, unconsciously trying to get out of his bed and go over to them, before Jack fixed him with a glare. "Stay in dat bed, Crutchie-I don' want'cha to git up before you's ready an' hurt yourself even more. Once they's settled, we'll bring ya ova, so ya can see dem, an' talk ta dem if dey wakes up, alright?" The younger newsie let out a "hmph" of protest, but followed Jack's order. Jack, Race, and Davey settled the two younger newsies into two unoccupied beds, and then brought Crutchie's bed over near them, so that he could see them. Jack let Crutchie know that one of the three older newsies would be in to sit with them in a little while, before closing the door quietly behind them. As he turned around, he noticed that the front door to the Lodging House was swinging shut-and he could see that Race and Davey were still in the Living Room. "'ey…were's Juliet goin'?" he cautiously queried. All three boys glanced at each other, and then gasped. "Ya don' think…" Race trailed off. A second later, they were dashing out the door to see Juliet running down the street a few blocks away. Her older brothers chased after her, Race finally catching up and grabbing her from behind in order to stop her. "Juliet-stop!" he whispered in her ear as Jack and Davey caught up to them.

"Let me go, Race!" his sister cried in response. "Dey's bastards, every single one a dem, an' I's gonna-"

"What-end dem? All a dem?" Jack asked as he moved in front of his sister, who was still struggling to get free of Race's firm grip. "I know ya wants ta soak dem good for what dey did ta Crutchie, Specs, an' Romeo, but dis ain't da way ta do it."

"Den how would ya do it-let dem keep goin' after us while we waits ta soak dem until da public approves?" She could tell Jack was angered by her words by the way his eyes hardened, but she could care less at the moment-she was too far gone in her anger. "All three a dem could have bin dead iffn' someone hadn' got dere in time, an' Specs an' Romeo almost were! Wat if next time dey dose kill one a us-wat den?" She took a breath, and then continued her tirade. "I cain't sit 'round an' do nothin' any longer! We's gotta end dese bastards now, before dey come afta anymore a us!" Jack gripped her shoulders tightly, trying to get her to stop struggling so that Race could hold her there easier (as it was, she had already kicked him at least twice while trying to break free.) "Ya don' think I don' want ta end dem bastards too? Iffn' I could, dat's where I would be, but we cain't! We ain't gonna sit on our butts an' wait for dem ta come afta us, but we cain't do it like dis!"

"An' why not?"

"Because it would be murder!" Davey cried from where he was standing by Jack's left shoulder. "Their parents would tell the cops that their sons were all killed in the night, and the police would start an investigation, and it would lead straight back to you. A judge would convict you of murder in a heartbeat, and you'd end up spending the rest of your life in jail. I know that's not something you want, and none of us want it either, but if you go after the boys now, that's what would happen." Juliet turned angry and hurt eyes on him, but he simply glared steadily back at her.

"We's gonna git dese bastards, Juliet. One way or another, we's gonna git dem. But we gotta git dem in da right way, so's we's not breakin' da law or anythin'. Ya hear me?" Juliet continued to glare and struggle against her three older brothers, and Jack sighed, getting frustrated with his younger sister. "Alright, Juliet-that's ENOUGH!" At Jack's shout, Juliet stopped in pure shock. She had heard Jack raise his voice before, of course, but never at her-always in the course of selling papers or yelling at someone else. The fact that he was yelling at her stopped her in her tracks. Jack crouched down, so that he could stare directly into her eyes. "Listen ta me. One way or another, we is gonna stop dese rich boys from messin' with any othar members a our family, but we gotta do it so dat we ain't gonna git sued again or arrested for standin' up for ourselves an' goin' afta dem. I know dat ain't wat ya wanna hear right now, but it's wat we gotta do, iffn' we don' wanta git in trouble with da law, 'specially since we jus' won a lawsuit cause we followed da law. I need ta know dat I can trust ya ta not go afta dem 'til I give da word, an' I don' know iffn' I can do dat right now." His steely brown eyes never left her face, watching and waiting for the time when Juliet gave up and stopped fighting. It took a few minutes, but the firm and gentle grips that each of the boys had on her seemed to be helping, as did the pressuring eye contact from Jack. Finally, the younger girl sighed, dropping her eyes to look at the ground. "I cain't…I jus' cain't let anyone else git hurt….iffn' any a ya got hurt…." Jack could clearly read the emotions shining in her eyes-fear, anger, sadness, worry, hurt, horror, shock, and terror-and he hated that she had to process all of them at once-and that she felt like she was doing it all alone. He flicked his eyes up to Race and nodded, and his lieutenant very slowly released his grip on Juliet. Almost as soon as he did so, the younger girl leaned over to the side and quietly threw up into the bushes, the stress of all of her conflicting emotions finally catching up to and overwhelming her. Throughout it all, her brothers stayed next to her, rubbing her back and helping her to calm down. Once she had finished, she looked guiltily up at the boys. "Sorry 'bout dat…" she murmured, but the boys waved it off.

"You's got nothin' ta apologize for, Juliet. Your best friends jus' got soaked, an' da guys responsible seems ta be getting' 'way with it…would be a stressful time for anyone." Race murmured. From up above them, Davey sighed. "Jack, you and Race take Juliet back to the Lodging House. I'm going to go talk to someone who might be able to help us." The newsie leader looked at him for a second, before nodding. "Come on, Juliet-let's git ya back ta da Lodging House. You's need ta git some sleep, an' dat's da best place ta do it." Between the two of them, Jack and Race were able to get Juliet up and headed off to the Lodging House. Davey stood watching them for a while, before walking off down the streets.

Once Davey arrived at the courthouse, he snuck quietly inside and knocked on the judge's office door. He heard movement from behind the door, and it was finally opened.

"Davey? Is there something I can do for you?" Judge Bolger questioned, leading the young man into his office and closing the door behind him. Looking at the young newsie, he could see the rage that Davey was furiously trying to quench, and patiently waited until the boy was able to speak his thoughts. "Yes, Your Honor-there is something very wrong. Have you heard of The League of Gentlemen?" At the judge's nod, Davey continued. "They have been taking over half of our papers, and giving them away for free, severely reducing the amount of money that the newsies already don't have enough of that they can use to buy papers the next morning. We've had to start selling in groups in order to make ends meet." He sighed, closing his eyes as he had to crush his anger again.

"That's not all they've done, is it?" the judge asked, almost in a fatherly manner. Davey nodded. "No, Your Honor-it's not. In addition to taking the newsies' hard-earned profits, but…they've beaten up three newsies rather badly. Three of them went after Crutchie a day or so ago, and _seven_ of them just jumped Specs and Romeo…maybe thirty minutes ago." Judge Bolger stared at him, aghast. "You mean to tell me that _ten_ League members attacked _three_ newsies?" At Davey's nod, he scowled, clearly showing his feelings towards The League. He then got up and paced, thinking hard. Suddenly, he stopped. "I've got an idea, but I don't know if you'll like it."

"What is it? We need any sort of plan at the moment-we have no idea what we're supposed to do. Juliet almost went out and tried to murder all of The League members." A sharp hiss escaped the judge at Davey's words. He sighed.

"Well, the rich boys can be arrested for aggravated assault and harassment...but the only problem is…the arresting officers have to actually see it happen. If the officers don't have proof that it happened, the parents of The League members will simply bail them out of jail. The officers need to have proof, in order to make the charges stick." Davey again nearly cursed under his breath. Most likely, in order for the officers to get their proof…it would involve another newsie getting beaten to a pulp. He sighed, trying to relax and cool his head.

"They'll get their proof, Your Honor. I promise."

 _ **A/N 2: So…who saw that coming? Well, I mean, you got the little preview that showed that there was going to be massive whumpage, but still… ;) The League boys are going to get a major soaking, if Jack and the newsies have anything to say about it…but there's still a bit of whumping left. Not too much the next chapters, but….there's still a bunch coming. If anyone wants know who the other 5 are that went after Romeo and Specs, I'll try to decide and let you know…cause I honestly couldn't think of which ones to use. Just know-they're not Delon, Mitchell, Lucius, Jordan, or Lukas, as those guys are specifically mentioned by name…and I don't know if Anton or Nixon would join in or not. Also, surprise surprise, this is my longest chapter so far, beating out a 4000 word "The Newsie Girl" chapter with this beast of over 6000 words. #TheThingsIDoForYouAll… ;) Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter…and all really want to soak the rich boys. Unless, of course, you're sadistic bastards like me, as mentioned above. ;)**_

 _ **Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I'll see you all next chapter!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	6. Git Outta Here-Now!

**A/N: Hello, all! Sorry this chapter is so late…again…I got up at 10am, watched some Power Rangers, did a "Just Dance" workout for 27 minutes, played Mario Kart for a while, and then started cooking lunch….and it's now 2:23pm. At least, on the West Coast of the United States. ;) Haha…and now it's an hour later, after doing chores/eating lunch. Great… ;) Anyways, so…last chapter….haha… ;) I apologize for all of the whumping…I just had to give the newsies an even larger reason to soak the rich boys! Luckily, there isn't really any more** _ **physical**_ **whumpage this chapter…there might be some emotional, but I'm not sure yet. Hopefully you guys can stand to wait a couple more chapters before another newsie ends up joining the boys! (And I'll give you a hint…look at who's getting beaten up in all of my stories….come on, we all saw this coming. ;) ) Hopefully this makes up for all the whumping of Romeo and Specs last chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I'M JUST A SADISTIC BASTARD WHO CAN'T STOP WHUMPING THEM AND DROPPING MY READERS OFF OF CLIFFS!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah…he and Specs are banged up pretty bad. The Judge will certainly attempt to, but they have to get proof first….which may or may not involve another newsie getting soaked, which no one would want…** **Hopefully you'll have some nails left after this chapter!** **Yeah-my sister's definitely a morning person, and I'm just walking around the house going "Don't talk to me until 11am if I haven't had coffee…"…I agree, night owls are much quieter and nicer by far. Yep…it seems to be a special talent of mine, pounding them into the pavement…all in the name of fanfiction… ;) It should be resolved in 6 chapters…and look in the author's note for a hint! I will most certainly keep the chapters coming!**

 **FansieFace: Haha…nice things are always good to start with! That's soooooo awesome-I wish I could have gone with you! I love Andy Richardson…and I may or not replay "King of New York" over and over so that I can hear his solo on the OBC album… ;) I agree-without Newsies, I wouldn't have attempted to keep on acting/singing/dancing, and it encourages me to keep going to this day! Haha…I'm so sorry for whumping them…I do tend to be a sadistic bastard, though! Sorry, Hulu…haha….hopefully it doesn't start shooting fireballs or anything…cause that would be a problem…luckily there's no physical whumpage this chapter, so Hulu should be able to breathe a little bit….and stop having a Biblical-type freakout. ;)**

 **S. Castro: Yeah, The League does not like the newsies at all…and I am like 95% sure I said "payback", not "paycheck"…I'll go back and check, though. Yeah, they do need to go to "school" with the Comstocks/Snyder/Clancys…hopefully they will be! Yep, there's twelve members of The League…which means that only two haven't jumped a newsie yet (which I think is Anton and Nixon…as the leader/deputy leader, they probably let the others be the ones to get their hands dirty). Yeah, Pulitzer will be making sure…and there will probably be a couple of officers posted there as well to make sure that the Delancys do what they're told. Yep, Judge Bolger is back…he won't be back for a few chapters, but he will reappear around Chapter 9! Yeah, I hope so too-all of the newsies will be on the lookout for some way to get the rich boys arrested now. Thanks-I'm glad you enjoyed it (even though that chapter had the most physical whumpage to date. ;) )**

 **K. Kelly: Yeah, she's going to enjoy stabbing them in the heart with her pen…but it won't happen for a few chapters, so keep an eye out for that! (should be around Chapter 10…) Thanks!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT…AND POSSIBLE EMOTIONAL WHUMPAGE WARNING! ALSO, REFERENCE ALERT! (but not to Newsies…to a popular book/movie villain)**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 6!**

" _They'll get their proof, Your Honor. I promise."_

"So we hafta git da officers proof a da fact dat dey's beatin' up da boys an' harrasin' dem?" Race queried. The four members of the "Inner Circle" (Jack, Race, Crutchie, and Davey) were gathered inside the smaller room off to the side of the Living Room, known as the "Soaking Room", since the three newsies inside had all gotten beaten up, and Jack wanted them all in the same room in order to keep an eye on them. The doctor had come by and looked over all of them, and had told the three older boys (quietly, and out of earshot of the three injured newsies) that Romeo and Spec's injuries were much worse than Crutchie's. Whereas Crutchie's might take a couple of months to heal, Romeo and Specs could take as long as four months. He had also (again) told them how to take care of the downed newsies' injuries, and given them a painkiller for each, which had the added bonus of putting the person to sleep.

"Yes-unfortunately the officers have to see something happening to one of us before they can make the arrest-and as we all want the assault charges to stick, they have to be caught in the act of attacking one of us. Judge Bolger promised that he'll have officers around keeping a close eye on them, though." The three other newsies sighed nervously. Why did everyone seem to want to beat them into the pavement? Seriously, was everyone in New York a sadistic bastard with the desire to see them all beat up for some macabre entertainment? Jack wouldn't be surprised if some young writer had started writing stories with that very plotline and published it to the masses, with all of the attacks the newsies had suffered in the last six months or so. (And seriously-didn't people have anything better to do than to read those kinds of stories anyways?) "Juliet ain't gonna like dat one bit-an' ya know she's gonna try an' run off again iffn' she can git away fast enough." Jack muttered. Race and Davey nodded, but Crutchie looked stunned (since he hadn't been in the room when Juliet had run off the night before). "She tried ta run off?" he queried. "An' end dose rich boys…permantlly." Jack said, running a hand through his hair. Once he and Race had arrived back at the Lodging House with Juliet, the doctor's apprentice had been there, checking on Crutchie, since the doctor was still helping the young woman giving birth. The young apprentice had given the two older boys something that would quickly put a person to sleep, and Jack had slipped it into Juliet's water as she went to bed. Neither he or Race wanted her to lie awake that night thinking of everything that had happened, and the pill had done its work-she had fallen asleep quickly after lying down on her bed, and was still sleeping now. Romeo and Specs were still out as well, thanks to the painkiller. "We cain't tell her that someone else has ta git almost soaked…she'd try ta end 'em again, an' git arrested for murder or sumthin'." Race murmured.

"Den wat is we gonna do?" Crutchie questioned. "We cain't let da rich boys git away with soakin' Romeo or Specs…or me…but we also cain't do anathin' 'til dey do somthin' first…how is we supposed ta do anathin'?" The others looked at each other, not sure either what they were supposed to do. "At least taday's Sunday, an' dere ain't any papes ta sell taday." Jack responded. Pulitzer had decided not to publish a Sunday paper for the next couple weeks, allowing his reporters an extra day to prepare their stories for Monday, and especially to give the newsies a chance to breathe and be together as a family, without any League members taunting or heckling them. "It will be nice not to have to see The League members today at all…especially after you three getting soaked. If you going down, Crutchie, made everybody mad, seeing Romeo and Specs getting attacked will enrage them, and we might have a massacre on our hands." Davey remarked quietly. The others nodded. A League-free day would do them a world of good. A faint noise from the back of the room startled them, and they all turned to see Specs slowly opening his eyes. Jack looked at Davey, getting the message across that he needed the other newsie to stay with Crutchie-he and Race would take care of Specs. Davey quickly nodded, and stayed talking with Crutchie while Jack and Race made their way over to the slowly awakening newsie. "'Ey, Specs…how ya doin'?" Jack murmured. Specs lightly groaned in pain, trying to roll over. Jack placed a hand on his chest and Race on his shoulder, stopping the younger boy from moving. "Don' even think 'bout movin'-ya an' Romeo is banged up pretty bad, an' ya ain't movin' 'til we gives de okay." Race muttered. Specs quickly agreed, being too weak and sore to do much more than glare at his older brothers, who both chuckled. "Romeo…he alright?" he breathed out. Jack nodded, looking over to his right to guide Spec's gaze over to the bed with the younger newsie. "He's a little more banged up den ya, but he's gonna be alright-jus' like ya." Jack murmured. Looking back, he noticed a nervous look on Spec's face. "Wat is it, Specs?" he queried. Specs initially refused to answer, but Jack and Race simply stared at him until he finally said, "I let Romeo down. I's da oldar brother-I's supposed ta git soaked da worst-not him. If I had done my job right, he wouldn' be hurt at all…an' he got hurt worse den me. I let him-an' all a ya-down." He looked away from his two older brothers, as if thinking that they would agree with his declaration. It surprised him, then, to feel a hand ruffling his hair, while another warmly gripped the back of his neck. "It's alright, Specs-ya did wat ya could. Romeo coulda bin hurt alot worse iffn' ya hadn' a bin dere." Race replied, trying to calm his brother. Specs, however, shook his head. "Romeo wouldn' have bin dere at all iffn' it weren' for me. I was da one wat drug him along ta da eyedoctors-I shoulda jus' had 'em git back ta da Lodging House. Den he wouldn' have gotten soaked." Jack and Race looked at each other and sighed. "Specs…ya don' get it. It was a good idea ta take Romeo with ya, since dere's all sorts a…bad people…walkin' round Manhattan at night…one who wouldn' hesitate ta hurt da ya iffn' ya was on your own. Havin' Romeo with ya meant dat dose people wouldn' try ta mess with ya, since dere was two a ya. Den, I know ya did da best ya could ta protect Romeo…an' ya certainly did dat. Yes, he's banged up a bit more, but if ya hadn' a done dat, he would be alot worse off den he is right now."

"An'…don'tcha think dat's wat I was tryin' ta do too?" A quiet voice stunned all three boys, and turning around (or in Spec's case, just rolling his head to his left) to see Romeo looking over at them. When he saw that he had their undivided attention, he went on. "I mean, Juliet an' Les an' Snitch an' I….we knows dat if we eva git inta bad trouble, you guys is always gonna be dere for us…but ya is also gonna try ta take da brunt of it ta protect us, an' not look afta yourselfs. Once we realized dat, Juliet an' I decided dat if our older brothers ain't gonna look afta demselves, we was gonna do it for 'em."

"Wat da ya mean?" Race asked.

"Wat I mean is dat when ya try ta take most a a beatin' for us, we is gonna watch your back, an' make sure no one gits ya while ya's watchin' out for us." He sighed, burrowing down a little more into the blankets surrounding him. "Dat's why I don' mind bein' hurt more den ya-I was tryin' ta keep dem from hurtin' ya too bad…an' it worked…evan if it meant dat I got hurt worse den ya." All of the older boys (including Davey and Crutchie, who could hear everything the other boys were saying), exhaled sharply. They had always unconsciously tried to take the worst pain upon themselves if they and a younger sibling were ever attacked…but they hadn't realized that their younger siblings had noticed, and decided to do the same for them.

"How long since ya realized dat?" Jack queried. Romeo attempted to shrug, but aborted the motion as his abused shoulders protested the movement. "Maybe…maybe three months or so? Pretty much afta evaryting wat happened in December with Juliet." Jack let out a sigh, and lightly rested a hand on both Specs and Romeo's shoulders, squeezing gently, so as not to cause them any pain. "In any case…I's jus' glad both a ya are alright…an' dat ya is home." he murmured.

The rest of that morning-and, actually, into the early afternoon-was a well-deserved, well-needed, and well-used respite for the newsies. The boys sat around playing cards or just talking with their brothers, including Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo, as Jack didn't want them to be in a room off by themselves while their brothers were merrily cavorting in the room right next door. Juliet was also there, but she sat off to herself, shooting nervous glances at Jack every now and then, as if she thought that her older brother was still mad at her for the events of last night. She wasn't always the best at reading people's body language and expressions, so she couldn't tell what Jack was thinking, and just assumed that he was still mad. Eventually, Race and Davey pointed it out to Jack, and the older boy somehow managed to sneak up next to her without her noticing. He sat there for a few minutes, his arm loosely draped against her shoulders, before she noticed and nearly jumped out of her skin. "Jack-how did ya…wat did ya…" She tried to jump to her feet and move away, but Jack's arm firmly grasped her before she could. "Easy, little sister…jus' calm down." Juliet stopped trying to get away, but he could still feel her nervously trembling beneath him. "Juliet…I's not mad at ya 'bout last night."

"Of course ya is...I's surprised evaryone else ain't mad."

"Cause da othars don' know." Juliet looked at her brother in shock, thinking that everyone must have heard by now the story of how she tried to run off and kill all of the members of The League before Jack, Race, and Davey caught up to her, as an example of something _not_ to do. Apparently, she hadn't figured that Jack would keep that a secret. Her older brother's fingers rubbed her shoulder as he explained, "I didn' think dat da boys needed ta know 'bout dat. Dey might start thinkin' something was wrong with ya iffn' dey heard 'bout wat happened."

"Dere is something wrong with me." Juliet quietly muttered in self-disgust, looking away. "I's da only one here dat decided ta go on a murderous spree an' end all a da League a Bastards, an' coulda got all a us in trouble… an' didn' care 'bout the consequences." She took a breath, and continued. "I jus' couldn'…I couldn'…I cain't see a world worth carin' 'bout iffn' all a ya ain't in it…an' especially not Romeo an' Specs…I jus'..." She kept looking away, ashamed of herself, and then started when Jack slowly reached up and cupped her cheek, turning her face to meet his. (Jack made a mental note at this point to thank Race and Davey for keeping the other newsies occupied so that they didn't interrupt the quiet moment between the two newsies…and to thank Crutchie, Romeo, and Specs, who clearly _were_ paying attention to their conversation but acting like they weren't, so they wouldn't weird Juliet out.) As she-slowly and cautiously-made eye contact with her older brother, she didn't see any anger or frustration or disappointment, which is what she assumed she would see. Instead, Jack's eyes held love, gentleness, kindness, and empathy, and Juliet couldn't help but let out a small gasp. Jack smiled, rubbing his thumb over her cheek a little. "Ya have had a time of it, ain't ya, kid?" he murmured, smiling down at his sister as she teared up a little. She closed her eyes as if to hide the fear and sadness showing in her eyes-but Jack had already seen it-and so she was surprised when he pulled her closer to his side and gently kissed her temple. He normally saved that show of affection for Crutchie alone, but he could tell that in this instance, Juliet needed it more (and by the way he had to turn his head away to hide his large grin, Crutchie wholeheartedly agreed). "I ain't mad at ya, kid-none a us is. Yeah, wat ya did wasn' a good idea, but ya didn' see a way out, did ya? I know ya wanna git dose rich boys an' git 'em good, but ya gotta trust me ta know when da right time is, alright?" At his sister's nod, he squeezed her shoulder gently. "Don' worry-we will get dese idiots-I promise ya."

 _CRASH!_

At the loud noise, everyone jumped, and then turned as one to see a group of people barging into the Lodging House. Upon recognizing who they were, every single newsie let out a groan, and Crutchie, Romeo, and Specs let out growls. Multiple newsies had to hold each other back from charging their "guests", and Jack tightened his arm around Juliet, to keep her from getting up.

"Let me be the first to say, it's an honor to finally visit your charming home…although _home_ isn't an applicable term…more of a shack, really…"

"Wat do ya want, ya rich boy scum?" Elmer asked harshly. Anton rolled his eyes and raised his arms skyward, as if questioning how the newsies could be this dense. "Would we be here for anything else? Your time is over, newsies-we're in command now."

"Um, in case ya may have noticed…we's still doin' fine. Ya cain't git rid a us dat quickly." Buttons called from near the back of the room. The League of Gentlemen members all started laughing. "Well, maybe we can't take you down all at once…but apparently we're able to take down single newsies whenever we please! Three out of twenty down…only seventeen left, and with our track record that shouldn't take longer than a week at most!" Nixon bragged.

"Could be down to fourteen tomorrow…see how long the baby idiots and their diminutive sister last!" Rito Revoltan leered. Davey jumped up from where he was sitting, requiring the efforts of Sniper, Finch, Elmer, _and_ Jojo to hold him back. "You are _not_ going to touch my brother, you cretins! None of you are, or so help me, I will-" He then uttered a term that he could only have heard from Race (since he was the one who said it the most), and all of his siblings stared at him in shock. Apparently, the one way to get Davey to utter a swear word was to threaten Les in front of him.

Duly noted.

"An' ya ain't gonna touch me or my brother either-not now, an' not never!" Juliet cried from where she sat with Jack. One of the other League members-Delon Underbridge (who still carried all of the bruises and scars from his run-in with Jack, who nearly mauled him)-cackled, stepping closer to Juliet. "Well, guess what? I can touch you, _right now_!" He went to poke her in the leg, but Jack slapped his hand away before he could. "Ya don' touch her-not unless ya don' wanna be breathin' anamore. We ain't goin' anawhere, an' ya ain't gonna make us. We's gonna stop ya, an' dere ain't nothin' ya can do it 'bout it." The League members and newsie family stared each other for a while, before a gentle knock sounded at the door. "Jack?" Katherine walked into the room, and suddenly noticed the presence of the 12 League members. She actively glared at them, and grinned coldly. "Actually, it's good that you all are here-I have a message from my father for you."

"Oh, really? What does Mr. Pulitzer want to tell us-that he desires that the newsies are finally exterminated like we've been waiting for?"

Katherine glared darkly at them. "Quite the contrary, in fact-my father wishes me to tell you that he does not want to see any of you at the distribution center or selling paper ever again, and he does not want you to take the newsies' jobs anymore. In short-stay as far away from the newsies as you can, or my father will not hesitate to contact the police and have them arrest you for harassment and assault."

"Oh really, sweet cheeks? Are you sure that's what your father truly said, or were you hoping to persuade us… _another_ way?" Anton leered at her. Jack growled lowly at them, and Race moved quickly to-gently-pull Katherine forwards and into the crowd of newsies, who were more than happy to keep The League of Idiots away from her. "Git outta here-now. An' don' come back-eva. Iffn' we evar sees ya here again, we's ain't gonna be responsible for wat we do. An' ya ain't gonna like it one bit. Now, before we all gits rid'a ya ourselves…git outta here." The League members glared at the newsies for a while, who glared back, before finally acquiescing and stalking out of the door, slamming it behind them. Side conversations immediately broke out between the newsies, and Katherine turned to Jack. "You all had best be careful," she murmured, "They're probably planning to come after another newsie soon."

"We've got to get another newsie-and soon!" Lucius protested. The twelve League members had retreated back to their base of operations in the library, in order to figure out their next plan. "Jack and the others will be on the lookout for that now. We can't just go and keep beating up newsies…we have to find a new approach." Nixon counseled. Everyone thought for a few minutes…how would they stop the newsies without taking them out one at a time? It took a while, but finally Lukas gasped. "I've got an idea!" he cried, everyone turning to him. "We want to hit the newsies where it hurts, right? Who did we see them protecting the most today, besides the ones we….educated?"

"…Pulitzer's daughter, Katherine." William murmured, catching on. Lukas nodded vigorously. "Exactly. She and Margaret Comstock are the key to all of this. If we can take possession of them, the newsies will do whatever we want in order to get them back-even giving up this pointless crusade and terminating themselves, if that's what we want them to do."

"And then Pulitzer could figure out a much more efficient way to sell his papers, with our help…I mean, we're doing so well already…" Oscar agreed. The rest of The League looked at each other and nodded.

"We are agreed, then." Anton muttered. "We shall take possession of the two women the newsies hold most dear, in order to use them as ransom." The rest of The League grinned nastily.

"The newsie filth won't know what hit them."

 _ **A/N 2: So…sorry this chapter took so long to come out! Hopefully the bit of Jack/Juliet bonding in this chapter makes up for it! I also have a legit reason…I started writing at 4pm…and then had to stop for dinner around 6pm…and then went to the grocery/pharmacy/library/Best Buy with my dad…and he got distracted by shiny, so we didn't get back until 8:30-ishpm…and then I've been working on this story ever since…with some breaks. The whole first section of the chapter, though-the whole conversation with Jack/Race/Davey/Crutchie/Specs/Romeo…I didn't have that in my original plan…it just kinda became a thing. I'm glad it became a thing, though…it's a good part of the chapter, and it's a good way to let Jack/Race/the others know what the Judge said about how to get rid of the rich boys. The Jack/Juliet bonding also just kind of came out of my brain…I guess both of those bits are like…brain vomit, or something? ;) Anyways, I hope this chapter helped make up for some of the whumping that's been going on…there isn't going to be much whumping next chapter, but then I'll probably leave you guys on an epic cliffhanger on Wednesday…because unless I write the chapter ahead of time, you'll all be left on the Chapter 8 cliffhanger until Monday…and that will be a scary time. Just trust me…the cliffhanger's pretty bad. ;)**_

 _ **Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter! Hopefully you all enjoy it, and I'll see you next chapter!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	7. Family Bonding Time

**A/N: Hello, all! Now…this chapter should be interesting…not because of the cliffhanger or anything like that…but because I may be deviating from my original plan. Basically, I didn't realize how many times The League taunted the newsies, saying something along the lines of "You're going to be obsolete, so just give up and get out of New York"….pretty much every chapter….and then I looked at my plan this morning, and it says-I kid you not-for the first two bullet points:**

" **Rich boys taunt Newsies again, specifically Les, Crutchie (who I guess I thought would be better at this point…nope!) Snitch, Juliet, and Romeo, who along with Specs is still healing (also apparently thought that Romeo and Specs would be better-ish at this point…nope!)"**

" **Leader tells Newsies that they're going to get run out of town, so why bother fighting back, Newsies say they're going to anyways, while they're doing this…." (the rest of that is something I will actually put into the story, just in a different way.)"**

 **So, you can see that I didn't really realize how much the rich boys would be taunting the newsies when I wrote this…so I'm probably just going to word-vomit this chapter and see what happens! There should still be 12 chapters to the story, it won't change that…you'll just get to see the word-vomit of an 18-year-old writer who has no idea where she's going with this chapter-except for the end. ;) Oh, and just curious-did anyone catch the reference to fanfiction writers (specifically myself) in the last chapter? I think it's in the beginning…when Jack's thinking about how much they've been attacked recently. ;) I'm going to try to get two chapters out tomorrow (** _ **"try"**_ **), so you're not left on the horrible cliffhanger that is Chapter 8.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE WRITING ABOUT THEM BECAUSE IT GIVES ME JOY!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, I don't think they** _ **were**_ **thinking all that much…and I agree-push them off a bridge and send them to Urinetown! (I did that musical sophomore year…like 3 people (and hundreds offstage) get pushed off of a building…) I agree-I actually got up at like 10 this morning, and my sister said "Hi" or something like that, and I was just like "Uuh…." ;) Yeah, it would be nicer if we were all night owls. I hope this is fast enough for you…and I'll see what I can do (before I leave for college)!**

 **Fansie Face: Yep, that's the reference! I thought of it two seconds before I wrote it, and figured at least you'd get it, since you like Harry Potter so much…** **Yeah, AKB and Ryan Breslin and Ben Fankhauser are fantastic…and I can totally sing Davey's entire part in "Seize the Day" and "Watch What Happens (Reprise)"…since I'm an alto, and it's right in my "male octave". ;) Haha…it took me looking through the booklet to find it-he sings "A permanent box at the Sheepshead Races"…I think that's the line, but it comes right after whoever sings "A pair of new shoes with matching laces", which I think is Race. It's right in the beginning, but it's the only solo I've heard him have on the OBC CD. Haha…yeah, maybe Job wasn't the best idea…and don't go into shock, Hulu! I need FansieFace to keep being awesome! Haha…you'll see what happens to them soon!**

 **S. Castro: Yep, Pulitzer's definitely being nicer to them now…and yeah, Judge Bolger'll be reappearing soon! Yeah, they didn't really think that out very well…or the part about kidnapping the girls…they just aren't really good at thinking through things. ;) Yah, The League just needs to get smacked in the face….and yep, I told ya! ;) Hopefully you like this chapter!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 7!**

" _The newsie filth won't know what hit them."_

That night, Juliet hung out for a while in the Soaking Room with her three older brothers. It seemed to put her mind at ease a bit, and it also seemed to buoy the three injured newsies as well. They knew she needed the time with them to quiet some of the conflicting emotions inside of her, and so they were happy to sit and talk to her. Currently, she was telling them about a time from her childhood back with the Comstocks, when she was four and her brother was two. Her parents had thrown a garden party for their friends, and Juliet had been allowed to attend, but her parents had very firmly told her that she could not have any cake until after their friends did. Now, of course, telling a four-year-old "No" is the same as saying "Yes, just don't let me catch you", and so Juliet had gotten her piece of cake…even if it meant wearing the rest. "You knocked da entire cake ovar?" Crutchie asked, laughing. Juliet nodded, a bright grin on her face. "Yep-my parents was furious, but I was jus' glad I got ta eat da cake!" All of the newsies laughed. "Course, den I tried ta git away from my parents, who was chasin' afta me, an' ended up slippin' an' fallin' down three flights a stairs…I's pretty accident-prone…" she smiled.

"Apparently…an' ya's definitely accident-prone now! I mean, who else would trip down da Lodging House steps most mornin's?" Romeo teased his sister, who stuck her tongue out at him. "At least I ain't da one who ran inta a spotlight couple days ago." She grinned at Specs, who groaned good-naturedly. "I's told y'all a hundred times-I couldn' see were I was goin'-someone 'ad taken my glasses!" The others started all out laughing, which continued as Jack and Davey opened the door and grinned at each other. It was good to hear their siblings laughing again.

"Juliet-ya gotta go ta bed now, kiddo. We's gotta lotta sellin' ta do in da mornin', wat with the rich boys not bein' able ta sell da papes now-unda ordars from Pulitzer himself." Jack told her. Juliet groaned. "Awh, come on, Jack-five more minutes?" Jack chuckled, shaking his head. "Sorry, kiddo-ya knows da rules. We's gotta git ta bed early on sellin' days." His sister looked back at Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo and rolled her eyes, and all of them chuckled in return. "Go on, Juliet-we ain't goin' noweheres, so we'll keept talkin' with ya tomorrow, alright?" Crutchie muttered. Juliet finally nodded, slowly sliding off of the end of Crutchie's bed. Davey slid into a chair nearby, clearly being the newsie who was looking after the soaked newsies that night. "'Ey, Jack…" Romeo murmured, "Wat's gonna happen with da three a us not able ta sell…how's dat gonna work wen we gits back an' has ta start payin' for papes again?" Jack smiled down at him. "Don' worry, kiddo-Katherine told me dat wen you's is getting' back ta sellin', she's gonna help ya out with buyin' da papes, until ya can keep buying 'em yourselves. She is kinda rich, ya know." Romeo sighed as he slumped back against his pillows, clearly relieved. All of the injured newsies had been worried about how they were going to afford buying papers to sell once they recovered, since Crutchie would be out of commission for two months, and Romeo and Specs possibly four. The news that Katherine would be helping them out definitely helped them relax a good deal. "Now, git some sleep, an' don' give Davey any trouble, alright?" Jack declared to the three younger newsies, who nodded.

"Don't worry, Jack-they'll be all right. Now you and Juliet go get some sleep-we do have to sell papers in the morning." Davey ordered. Jack smirked at him, before dragging Juliet out of the room. As they left, the three soaked newsies shifted position, trying not to let out a pain-filled groan. Davey was wise to that, however, and simply raised an eyebrow at them. The others sighed, embarrassed at being found out. Davey grinned at them. "Come on-I would be surprised if you all weren't in pain, what with all of the injuries you seem so in favor of accruing." Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo looked confusedly at each other. They had understood most of his sentence, but then he started using "rich-man speak", and they had no idea what he meant. Davey knew this, and rolled his eyes. "It means-just drink the painkiller. We all know you need it." His brothers tried to get out of it, but Davey just stared them down until they finally agreed. Within minutes, Crutchie and Specs were both out, and Romeo was almost out. As Davey pulled the blankets up on his now-sleeping brothers, Romeo quietly asked, "Juliet? Is…is she okay? I heard 'bout what she tried ta do…" Davey turned to him, a quiet grin playing across his face as he crouched down to meet his little brother's gaze. "Yeah, Romeo-she's worried about you three, especially you and Specs, but we're keeping an eye on her, and she's doing better. Just keep being there for her when she's hanging out with you, all right?" Romeo nodded, grinning at his older brother. Davey grinned back at him. "Good-now go to sleep. You aren't going to get better without some rest, now are you?" He ruffled Romeo's hair, and the younger newsie glared weakly at him before falling asleep. Davey sighed relievedly, and went back to the chair he was sitting in before, resting his legs on Crutchie's bed and preparing himself to spend the night looking after his brothers.

The next morning, the newsies got up quickly, and headed for the distribution center. Jack had left Mush and Les to look after their downed brothers, with strict instructions not to let them out of bed, except to use the facilities when necessary. When they arrived at the distribution center, they were relieved to see that there were two police officers standing next to the Delancys, and that all of the papers appeared to still be in the room. "You are the newsies, correct?" one of the officers asked.

Jack nodded. "Yes, sir, we is." he replied. The officer nodded, and gestured at the papers. "Have at them, then. Those League members were here earlier, but Morris and Oscar didn't let them take any of the papers-we made sure of it." Jack smiled gratefully at them. It was slightly odd, working with the cops, when Pulitzer had called on them to help soak the newsies in the strike in October, but it seemed that just as Pulitzer had begun to soften towards them, the cops were starting to thaw out as well. "Thank ya, sir. We definitely appreciate for it." The officer smiled back and nodded. After getting their papers, the newsies spread out to their corners. They finally had enough papers to sell by themselves again, which felt good to each newsie. Not that they didn't like selling together, but they usually did better selling by themselves-unless they were like Les and Snitch or Romeo and Juliet, who were practiced professionals at selling together. They were also happy to reclaim their normal corners, with no rich boys stealing them. The public also seemed to be relieved, as they flocked to the newsies to buy the newest paper. Race was the newsie nearest to Juliet, and he made sure to keep an eye on Juliet (well, Finch was also near her, but he didn't know about her 'run' two nights ago, so he wasn't watching her that much.) During lulls in selling, she would sometimes look melancholy, as if happy to be selling again without the rich boys nearby, but also sad that Romeo, Specs, and Crutchie weren't out there selling with them. Jack was also keeping an eye on the newsie in between him and Race, which was Davey. He had spent the entire night looking after his brothers pretty much without any sleep, and so Jack was keeping a close eye on him. He had already decided that when they got back to the Lodging House, he was going to force Davey to get some sleep, even if the other newsie protested. His siblings didn't call him their leader for nothing-Jack would keep persisting until the other newsies finally agreed to follow his orders (which most of the time were good ones).

They didn't see much of the rich boys that day-they seemed to be scattered out around the streets, not saying anything, just quietly observing. If they saw a newsie glaring at them, they would sneer and leer, but not taunt them, like they normally did. It made Jack a bit suspicious, but he figured that they were afraid to try anything, what with the newsies being on high alert, and the police officers who were standing in the shadows watching over them. However, from what the other newsies had reported, there were only ten of the twelve League members out on the streets. Two of them-Jaden Coldfrost and Mitchell Renard Smith-were nowhere to be seen.

"Quiet! They'll hear you!" Jaden muttered. He and Mitchell were standing outside of the Lodging House, trying to get onto the balcony outside of Juliet's dormitory. Mitchell was currently standing on Jaden's shoulders, slowly pulling himself up to the balcony. "They won't hear me-they're all out selling, and the five that aren't are in a room on the complete other side of this shack! They won't hear me unless I fall down or something!"

Jaden scowled. "Just hurry up and get in there-we still have another stop!"

"I know-quit nagging me!" Mitchell finally drug himself onto the balcony, and stood up, sliding the door to Juliet's room open. Once inside, he looked around the room, finally spotting the bed that the younger girl slept in. He slowly walked towards it, listening for any signs that a newsie might have heard him and would be on their way, before arriving at the bed. He placed a half-sheet of paper on top of the bed, with some writing scrawled on it. Then, he headed back out to the balcony, closing the door behind him. "We're good here-let's get to Pulitzer's before anyone starts looking for us." he said, slowly lowering himself off of the balcony with help from Jaden. Once he was down, the two quickly slunk away from the Lodging House and headed for Pulitzer's house. They had figured out which window was Katherine's from keeping an eye on her the night before, and now moved towards it. This time, Mitchell boosted Jaden up towards the window. "Is it clear?" Mitchell queried. Jaden nodded, and Mitchell pushed him up further towards the window, since the outside of the house was solid brick. Once inside, Jaden did the same as Mitchell had done, placing a half-sheet of paper on Katherine's bed, before climbing out of the window and sliding to the ground while Mitchell kept him from falling and breaking his neck. As they left, the boys cackled slightly and high-fived. "Now all we have to do is wait." Jaden grinned, and Mitchell smirked back.

They had done their part. Now they just had to wait for the newsie women to take the bait.

Thanks to the surge of public attention, the newsies had sold very well and very quickly. They had even sold out early, which gave them more time to enjoy the sunshine and play around in the warm air. Les and Snitch had managed to swipe a pie from a vendor when he wasn't looking, and once their brothers and sisters (and them, of course) had finished it off, they spent almost an hour tossing it between themselves and trying to catch it in different ways. After a while, they headed back for the Lodging House. They tramped in, before heading for the Soaking Room to hang out with Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo. As they did so, Jack stretched out his arm, stopping Davey from entering the room. "Davey-ya spent da whole night looking afta da three a dem. Ya barely lasted through da day a selling. Ya need ta go git some sleep. Dey'll still be here when ya wake up, but as your friend and leader, I's tellin' ya-go git some sleep. I ain't lettin' ya in dere until ya do." Davey glared at him, surprised that Jack was ordering _him_ to do something, but he knew deep down that Jack was simply worried about him. "I wouldn' ask ya ta unless I knew it was good for ya…and ya has bin up for more den twenty four hours." Jack said. Truth be told, Davey _was_ extremely tired, and (though he personally couldn't see it), Jack could clearly see him swaying slightly where he stood, and that his friend was clearly fighting to keep his eyes open. "Davey," he said, making sure to keep his voice low, gentle, and soothing, "go git some sleep. We all knows ya need it." His brother was stubborn to the end, but he finally nodded. As he turned around, he stumbled, and nearly fell over-but Race was there to catch him. "I'll git dis idiot ta bed-ya worry 'bout da othars." his lieutenant grinned at Jack, who nodded in thanks. He knew he could trust Race to get Davey to sleep, since Race was just as persistent and naggy as Jack himself was. And he wasn't afraid to sit on people's legs to keep them from getting up (unless, of course, they were injured). As the two walked off, Jack opened the door to see his siblings sitting on the beds, telling their injured brothers about how both Mike and Sniper ran into streetlights trying to catch the pie pan. Romeo was laughing out loud, while Specs and Crutchie were trying very hard not to laugh at their brother's annoyed faces. "Hey, at least ya ain't like Jack…he ran inta a buldin' a little ways afta we met!" Crutchie finally managed to get out. Jack fake-glared at his brother. He was glad to hear his brothers and sister laughing again. He was also glad to see Juliet on Romeo's bed, curled up under his left arm. She was making sure not to aggravate any of his injuries, but was resting her head on his chest, and looking fully content. For his part, Romeo was careful to keep constant physical contact with his younger sister, keeping his arm around her and resting his chin on the top of her head. He was one of the most adept of the newsies at using physical contact to comfort and show love to Juliet, and he knew that she would need it from him the most. Jack smiled at the sight. He would say this about his siblings-they knew how to look after each other.

Later that night, Jack had had to kick Juliet and a few other of the boys out of the Soaking Room again. He had inwardly chuckled at how stubborn his younger siblings were (maybe they learned it from him), but had made sure that they had gone off to bed. He was also sure to make sure to check in with Race, to make sure Davey got to bed. Race informed him that yes, he had gotten Davey to go to sleep, and hopefully the boy would be out for a long time. When they had arrived at the Lodging House, he had managed to swipe one of the sleeping pills the doctor's apprentice had given them for Juliet, and had managed to get it into the small glass of water that Davey had drunk before he went to sleep. His brother had realized quickly what Race had done and glared at him before drifting off, but the lieutenant wasn't sorry-Davey needed to sleep for a long time, and that's what it would take.

As Juliet entered her dormitory, she suddenly got the sense that something wasn't right, like someone had been in her room. She was fine with her brothers coming in her room whenever (except when she was changing, of course…), but it felt like there had been someone else in the room. She shook her head, trying to dismiss the feeling. Of course there had been no one in her room-Mush, Les, Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo had been in the Soaking Room all day, and everyone else had been selling. There hadn't been…anyone in her…

She suddenly gasped in shock. There, sitting on her bed, was a half-sheet of paper, fluttering slightly in the breeze flowing in from the minutely open balcony door. She quickly closed the balcony door, before padding back to her bed and picking up the sheet of paper. She took a deep breath and then looked down at the paper, her heart jumping into her throat at what she read.

" _If you want us to stop harassing and assaulting the newsies and to leave them alone, come to the west side of Central Park at seven o' clock at night tomorrow to talk, and we'll consider stopping."_

 _ **A/N 2: So, what do you think Juliet'll do? There's still 5 chapters left, so I figure you guys can figure it out…That chapter actually was complete and utter brain-vomit…the only thing that I had originally planned for was the rich boys leaving the papers and Juliet finding it…but what I did write turned out well, right? ;) I enjoyed writing the brief Jack/Davey bonding bit, as well as how Race got him to sleep…I really enjoy this chapter as a whole! The next chapter'll be out sometime tomorrow, and then there's probably going to be a break between that chapter and Chapter 9, as I'm moving into Multnomah University on Thursday...and have orientation all weekend…I could have it out as early as Sunday, but it might be Monday, depending on how much orientation stuff I have to do on Sunday (since each of these chapters takes like 5 hours or so to write…seriously, I start writing at 11am, and don't finish until 4pm). I also am super happy, because I like to read my chapter on after I post it, to check for spelling/convention mistakes, and last chapter there was only ONE! YAY! ;) Hopefully there's none in this chapter! ;)**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	8. Oh Crap-Where Did Juliet Go?

**A/N: Hello, all! I figured I would start writing this early, since I don't know how much time I have tomorrow to write…it's my final day of packing for college, after all…and I wanted to make sure you guys got this chapter before I left. It's probably the worst cliffhanger…at least of the last few chapters. There might be a worse one later on, but for right now this one is the worst…anyways, I should probably stop leading up to it and just write it, right? Haha…I can get kinda long-winded sometimes. (I also reread my own fanfiction….multiple times….seriously, I've reread TNG like 15 times by now…) ;)**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE WRITING STORIES ABOUT THEM FOR MY OWN ENTERTAINMENT AND THE ENTERTAINMENT OF MY READERS!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yep-they definitely get their proof soon…and The League just keeps digging itself into a larger and larger hole….Yikes-why do you have to be up at 6:15? That just sounds like torture…and I'm the same way about coffee/11am! ;) Yeah, Urinetown is a very interesting musical…and it's also a lot of fun.** **Thanks! Sorry if I'm posting about it too much…I'm just really excited….that's sad that you don't start until February! Yeah…I've gotten a bit too addicted to pushing my readers off of cliffs…but it keeps you all interested in the story, so… ;)**

 **FansieFace: Yep-and thank you! I remember when I was starting high school…it was so much fun…and even though people are kind of dismissive of freshmen, I still enjoyed it! Especially since I got involved in theatre my freshman year…it made it much easier to make friends with people in different classes.** **Haha…I do too, but I haven't tried singing Race yet…I could probably hit his part, though, cause he sounds like a tenor…what part do you sing? (or what's your range?) I'm an alto…but have had to sing a** _ **lot lot lot**_ **of tenor, so I'm used to it. And can kinda sound like a man. ;) LOL…I was hoping you would get it! I agree, it is one of the best series-es ever! That's good about Hulu…I have a feeling it's going to change with this chapter, though…Yep, that's him…I think it's his only solo, so I've listened to it over…and over…and over…and over…haha-I love Andy too! He's so flipping cute! I do like all of the Newsies casts, but my favorite is always going to be the OBC cast-they've just got a special place in my heart.** **Haha…I can guarantee Katherine's safety…Juliet's…not so much… ;) You'll see in the next few chapters!** **And hey, you tried-that's what matters!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (and** _ **sort of**_ **Reference Alert to TNG! (or at least the mindset of the Comstocks…) )**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 8!**

" _If you want us to stop harassing and assaulting the newsies and to leave them alone, come to the west side of Central Park at seven o' clock at night tomorrow to talk, and we'll consider stopping."_

The next day, Juliet carried the paper in her pocket the entire day, taking it out sometimes to reread it. She had laid awake for a while thinking about the note, trying to decide what she was going to do. She knew for a fact, though, that she couldn't tell her brothers about it. Sure, that's what they would want her to do, but she got the feeling that The League wanted her to come alone. Not that she really wanted to do that either, but if it would stop people from harassing her brothers, she would probably do it. Also-how did they get into her room in the first place? Maybe the balcony…but that was a two story climb…and the door was usually shut, unless she was outside on the balcony…. Finally, she ended up falling asleep at around three in the morning…when the newsies had to get up for work around six. _"Perfect. Jus' perfect."_ she thought as the newsies headed out to sell. _"Jack's gonna kill me iffn' he finds out I only got three hours a sleep."_ She didn't feel too bad, just a little tired and a tiny bit cranky, but other than that she felt fine. She had been a little snappish with a couple of the newsies (Scabs and Ike) earlier, but one sharp glare from Jack had her nodding and calming down-even if it meant she was biting her tongue and trying to stay away from the other newsies.

Okay, so she was a good bit cranky. But then, who wouldn't be on three hours of sleep?

Once they started selling, it was easier to release the negative emotions she had been feeling earlier. She didn't know what it was about selling, just that it always strangely made her feel better. Maybe it was because it was outside in the beautiful city of New York, or maybe it was because she got to spend the entirety of the day with her brothers, but selling the daily paper always made her feel better. There weren't as many people buying papers, but that was all right-she could joke around with her brothers easier that way. Every so often, though, she would pull the piece of paper from her pocket, and look over it. After thinking it over for a while, she had finally decided to go. She knew that her brothers hadn't yet figured out what to do yet about The League, and she figured that if she went and talked with Anton, it might help a bit, since she knew him. Or, at least, she had known him. He had been…decent…as a younger kid, but had grown into a man that she didn't recognize at all. She still wanted to try to get through to him, though. If she managed to convince him, she would let her brothers know. She knew she was kind of going behind Jack's back with this, and that he had told her to trust him, but….she couldn't really contain her restlessness anymore. She had to do _something_ to protect her brothers, if it was the last thing she ever did.

After lunch, she took the paper once again to look it over. She knew there wasn't anything new to get from it, but she strangely just kept looking at it. She heard a noise to her left and hurriedly shoved the paper back in her pocket.

"'Ey, Juliet…wat'cha lookin' at?" Finch asked her from off to her left, where he was eating an apple. Juliet grinned nervously. "Geez, Finch-ya nearly gave me a heart attack! An'…it's nuthin'. Jus' a piece a paper I found earlier."

"Wat's it say?"

"Nuthin' important, jus'…"

"Jus' wat?" Elmer asked, entering the conversation from where he was sitting against a wall to Finch's left. Juliet sighed. _"Why did Finch an' Elmer have ta see da paper?"_ she mentally questioned. "It's nuthin' ya two. It's jus' somethin' I found. Nuthin' important." She looked away from them, but her two brothers could see her body obviously tensing up and hear her start breathing a little faster. They looked at each other and sighed. "Why don' she realize she can trust all a us?" Elmer murmured.

Finch shook his head. "I think she knows dat…she's jus' scared a us findin' out 'bout somethin'. You's right, though-she usually ain't one ta hide things dat well." Both boys looked back at their younger sister. Obviously, something was wrong with their little sister, and it was tied to that paper…but they wouldn't know how to help her if she wouldn't let them see what it said. From across the road, Race glanced quizzically at them, and Finch shook his head. Race had noticed her nervousness as well, but hadn't been close enough to ask her about it, trusting Finch and Elmer (who were closer) to do it. Unfortunately for the three newsies, it hadn't worked.

The end of the day couldn't come fast enough for Juliet. Once they were done, it was about four o' clock, and they all hurried back to the Lodging House. As per usual, they all went into the Soaking Room to hang out with Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo, as well as whichever newsies had been looking after them that day, which happened to have been Buttons and Jojo. Everyone was soon laughing at Mush's tale of how he got chased down by an extremely large woman in a bright pink dress, and teasing each other about their most embarrassing stories-in which Spec's face having a chat with the streetlight pole was definitely mentioned, to his annoyance. During this time, Finch and Elmer periodically glanced over at Juliet. Crutchie started to as well, when he took a good look at her. Their little sister was sitting in a chair a little ways back from the other newsies, and it was like she couldn't sit still. Every few seconds some part of her would start twitching, and would do so for around a minute, until she seemed to catch herself and would stop. Then, it'd start up again a few seconds later.

She almost looked like she was waiting for something. Or someone.

At about six fifty, Juliet quietly got up and headed for the door. Right before she left, Jack (who was sitting near the back of the room) gripped her left wrist. "Were ya goin', kid?"

"I jus' gotta use da facilities. I's comin' right back…but, ya know…nature calls?" Jack smiled. "Alright." He let go of her wrist, and she nodded, before heading out of the room. Once she knew that her brothers were paying attention to Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo, and not her, she quietly opened a window and snuck out. It was a bit dark, but she was still able to navigate towards the west side of Central Park. She _also_ knew that she would probably get into trouble with Jack for going off alone, but it couldn't really be helped now.

By the time she arrived at the west side of Central Park, it was about seven o' clock at night. The streetlights were turning on, and she attempted to stay in their light at all times, so that she could see things around her. Eventually, after about five minutes of searching, she arrived at a small rock formation. Anton was standing in front of it.

"Welcome, Margaret…I figured you would come. After all, you would do anything for your brothers, wouldn't you?"

"Ya wanted ta talk, didn' ya, ya bastard?"

"Is foul language the only thing those creatures have taught you?"

"First of all, dey taught me dat dere's a point ta life, and dat it's not jus' a big waste a time. Second, 'bastard''s not evan da worst word I know. Just da worst one I say. Ya should listen to Race sometime-he knows all da bad ones." Juliet sighed darkly. "But dis ain't 'bout me-it's 'bout ya an' your 'League a Idiots' gitting away from da newsies, an' never goin' ta come near dem again."

"What is it with you, Margaret? You abandon everything that made you someone in this world, and joined a group of horny teenage idiots-"

"Okay, I is TIRED A EVERYONE TALKIN' 'BOUT MY BROTHERS LIKE DAT!" Juliet blew up. "First it's my mom an' dad, an' now it's you. For da last time, da newsies ain't like dat at all, an' I will fight anyone who says different! An', again-we's supposed ta be talkin' 'bout da newsies-not me!" She suddenly felt a strong grip around her wrists, pulling them backwards behind her. She looked over her right shoulder, and saw Nixon smirking at her. She tried to pull her arms away, but he simply held them there with one hand. She looked back up, still struggling, to see Anton moving closer to her. "Oh, don't worry, little friend. We will be talking about the newsies…and in great depth, too. But, not here. Somewhere where there will be… _no interruptions_." As he said those last two words, Nixon took his right hand and placed a rag over her nose and mouth. She tried to get away from him, but as time went by, she felt herself quickly weakening, and ended up sagging against Nixon. She tried one final time to get away, before she fell unconscious. Nixon then removed the rag. "Lucky we had the extra chloroform." he muttered. Anton nodded. "It doesn't look like our other guest will be coming. Let's get our little friend here back to the library…we'll continue our chat there." Nixon nodded, and he and Anton carried the younger girl-rather roughly-back the way they had come to the park. Before they left, however, Anton left a small box on the ground where they had been. "Solve this, newsies." he muttered quietly.

"Have ya seen Juliet?" Jack asked Race. Race had been sitting on the other side of the room as Jack, and he had been watching over all of the others. He had also noticed, like Jack had, when Juliet had left the room. Jack's back was to the door, though, so he didn't know if his sister had come in and he just hadn't noticed. Race, however, shook his head. "No-I saw her leave, but she hasn' come back in yet. If she's goin' ta da bathroom, dat's one long visit." Jack nodded. It was odd that their sister would take so long in the bathroom, since she normally wouldn't leave the three injured boys unless something major was happening. Jack had had to kick her out two nights in a row because she was in there instead of going to bed, like she was supposed to. For some reason, it unsettled the newsie leader-and his lieutenant, if Race's expression was anything to go by-but he didn't know why. He got his reason, though, when Race pointed behind him. "Wat is Katherine an' 'er father doin' here?" Jack turned around to see that, in fact, Katherine _and_ Pulitzer were standing in the front room, looking nervous. Jack instantly headed out to talk to them, Race nudging Davey and getting his attention and nodding at Crutchie. The older boys would inform him of what was going on-Race would make sure of it.

"Wat can we do for ya?" Jack quietly queried, trying not to alert the other newsies to Pulitzer's presence. He knew they would be fine with Katherine there…he just didn't know about Pulitzer. "Katherine received a note the other day. She showed it to me, and we figured that you all should see it, since it mentions you."

"It does?"

"Yes-it's almost certainly from The League of Gentlemen." Pulitzer passed the note to Davey. Jack and Race looked over his shoulder as he read. " _If you want us to stop harassing and assaulting the newsies and to leave them alone, come to the west side of Central Park at seven o' clock at night tomorrow to talk, and we'll consider stopping."_

"She found that in her room last night and showed it to me this morning. I, of course, told her not to follow its instructions, and to show it to the authorities."

"'Ey…dat looks like dat paper Juliet had." Elmer murmured. He and Finch had noticed the other newsies talking with Pulitzer and Katherine, and had started listening in, in case they heard something interesting.

Now, they were glad that they had.

"Wait-Juliet had a paper like dis one?" Jack asked. Finch and Elmer looked at each other, making sure they remembered clearly what the paper had looked like, before looking at their older brothers and nodding. "Yeah-she kept pullin' it outta her pocket taday while we was sellin'. She wouldn' tell anyone wat it said…jus' dat it was 'nuthin' important'."

"I saw dat paper too-she kept pullin' it out evary so often…an' it looked like it made her nervous 'bout sumthing." Race muttered. Jack closed his eyes briefly, hoping that the papers his girlfriend and little sister had had weren't similar. "Katherine, ya know where da girls bathroom is in here…can ya check if Juliet is in dere? She said dat's where she was goin', but…we cain't really check, ya know?" Katherine nodded, running to the room. She soon came back, however, shaking her head. "She's not in there, or in her dormitory. And if she's not in those places or in the Soaking Room with you all…"

Jack cursed under his breath. "She's probably goin' ta talk with dem. Why she didn' tell us, I has no idea…."

"Jack…it's seven-thirty." Davey muttered. "If they were going to do anything to her…it's probably already happened by now." Jack sighed, thinking fast. Suddenly, he nodded, finally having a plan. "Right-here's wat we's gonna do. We need ta git ta Central Park an' see if our wayward sister is dere…but we also need ta git da rich boys in trouble without breakin' da law." He turned to Davey. "If dey's not dere…would dat count as kidnapping?" Davey's eyes lit up. "Yes, in a court of law, with the evidence from the papers and no one being present at the location…plus Juliet not being here currently…it would count as a kidnapping. We just have to make sure that the officers know that she's not actually here."

"There are a couple of officers outside-we could show them in and show them that your sister is not here." Pulitzer spoke up.

Jack nodded. "Jus' let me warn da boys real fast." Pulitzer nodded, and headed out to bring the officers inside. Jack went into the Soaking Room. "'Ey-everybody listen ta me real quick." The room went dead silent as everyone turned to look at him. "Alright-now, we's got ourselves a little situation. Apparently, da League a Idiots tried ta git Katherine and Juliet ta come out an' talk ta dem 'bout stopping harassin' us…an' dey got Juliet." Shouts broke out from the entire room, but Jack raised his hand and they quieted again. "Now-dis could actually help us, cause it can git dose bastards arrested for kidnapping-long as we shows da officers dat Juliet isn' actually here. Katherine an' Pulitzer brought a couple a officers with dem, an' dey's jus' gonna take a quick look 'round, an' make sure dat Juliet ain't here, so's it can count as a kidnappinn'. Alright?" The other newsies clearly weren't thrilled about the news, but they finally agreed. Pulitzer had obviously warned the officers that the newsies wouldn't be very excited about their presence, as the two quickly worked through the house, almost speeding through it, before coming back to the Soaking Room and confirming that, yes-Juliet was not in the Lodging House. "If she's not in the place where the note specifies," one of the officers said, "it will be proof to arrest The League of Gentlemen for kidnapping…and now that we've seen the three of you injured newsies, Judge Bolger could also use our eyewitness accounts to get them on aggravated assault as well." The newsies worriedly smiled. They were glad the rich boys would get what was coming to them…but they were extremely worried about Juliet.

"Who's gonna come an' help ya find Juliet?" Albert queried. Jack thought about it for a moment, and then said, "Race, Davey, Finch, Elmer, Henry, an' ya, Albert. Da rest a ya is gonna stay here an' keep an eye on dese three idiots 'till we gits back."

"Jack…what about Snitch and I?" Les queried. "Can we come too?" Jack shook his head sadly. "Sorry, kiddos…I don' wanna risk da chance a you two gettin' caught too…'specially when da League specifically threatened da two a ya. Stay here an' keep watch, but we'll see 'bout tomorrow, alright? I might have a special job for ya." Les and Snitch nodded, sad that they wouldn't get to help look for their lost sister, but also intrigued by what job Jack might have for them. The chosen newsies then headed out the door, along with Pulitzer, Katherine, and the two police officers. It didn't take them very long to arrive at the west end of Central Park, and they all spread out, working to cover more ground.

It was Sniper who finally found the small box addressed to Jack. He whistled to signal the others, and they all caught up with him in the clearing. He handed the box to Jack, who looked at the name on the "from" side of the box-Anton Merson. He growled low in his throat before opening the box. "Wat da hell…" he murmured, pulling a white rag out of the box. The rag was the only thing inside. "Why would Anton leave a rag for us, and nothing else?" Davey queried. Jack handed the rag to one of the police officers, who looked at it carefully before taking a small sniff. As he did, he rocked back a bit, shaking his head as if to clear it.

"That's definitely chloroform." he said. "It proves without a doubt that your sister was kidnapped…The League couldn't have used it on anyone else, since she was the only one here." Katherine and Pulitzer now looked extremely worried. For the newsies, though, it was worse-this was the second time in five months that Juliet had been captured, and she was still recovering from the abuse to her arms and ribs.

Plus the…other stuff…that had occurred.

Crap.

Crap Crap.

Crap Crap Crap.

"We's gotta git our sister back…no matter wat it takes." Jack murmured.

 _ **A/N 2: So…Juliet's been kidnapped once again…I'm sure this is going to end well…and that you'll all want to kill the 12 League members and not me…**_ __ _ **Apparently I love shameless Juliet whump. Hopefully the next chapter should get out tomorrow…if not…welp…have fun with this cliffhanger until Sunday! (Oh boy...now I have to go into my "hide from readers" room where Crutchie the puppy (my Newsies muse that I just remembered existed…whoops…) has already gathered up food and water and weapons to fend off angry readers…it's also a bomb shelter, so… ;))**_

 _ **Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	9. We's Got a Chance Now

**A/N: Hello, all! I'm going to start this chapter on Wednesday evening (as of writing this it right now, it's 7:33pm), and hopefully finish it sometime tomorrow, since we're done with orientation on Thursday at around 7pm…and I should have time to write, because I don't know what my roommate and I will be doing at that point.** **Hopefully we'll just be hanging out in our room, so I can just chill and work on this chapter! Anyways, I am super sorry for leaving you guys on that cliffhanger…It's horrible, I know, but look at it this way…everything's darkest before the dawn, right?...(hides in bomb shelter, closes the blast doors… "OH GOSH THE READERS ARE COMING!") Haha… ;) This is Chapter 9, so after this one there's only 3 more! Gack-where did this story go? It's the same with TNG….it just kinda gets to a later chapter, and I'm like, "What-when did this happen?" I know for a fact that I won't be able to post on Friday, since some other students in the history major and I and a faculty member of ours (probably Dr. Scalberg) are going out and doing something that night for dinner…I** _ **might**_ **be able to post on Sunday…but definitely look for something on Monday-after 2:30pm Pacific Time!**

 **Anyways, I've started rambling again, so here's the DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I'M JUST (I THINK) TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN ANDY RICHARDSON YAYNESS!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, The League members aren't very smart…at all…they definitely underestimate the bonds the newsies have with each other, that's for sure. No problem! Ouch-that's a cool job, but still…ouch! Luckily you can have multiple cups of coffee! (My dad makes some before he leaves, but then my sister ends up taking most of it….and she's 14! You don't need a huge mug of coffee, Rachel-you're hyper enough without it! ;) ) Yeah, college should be exciting…and I get to be in charge of myself for once…** **I agree-it'll definitely be worth it. Yeah, a Musketeers writer who also drops her readers (including myself) off of cliffs ordered a mattress for her last cliff…hopefully it's beneficial to you guys!** **Hope you like this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Oh boy….do you have a padded room you could lock it in? It could be a problem…and…about Juliet…uh…um…(*barricades self further inside bomb shelter*)…I think we all know what's coming. Hopefully this update gets out before Sunday…and then only three chapters after that!** **Haha…** **That's me as well-my range goes from the C below middle C to two Cs above it (so, if you know music… "code", I guess it's called….that's C3 to C6, with C4 being middle C). I do end up singing a lot of Tenor as well-and just a lot of harmonies in general. I do really enjoy that cast, but I first learned to love Newsies via the OBC with Jeremy, so that's why I love them. (And his "Santa Fe"s….ohmigoodLord they're amazing! ;) ) Haha… yep, that's Andy! And I agree-they're all extremely good looking!**

 **S. Castro: Haha…yeah, I was watching from a review from you and then just kinda went on with the next chapter…** **Hopefully you like this one! Yeah, I think The League members were all dropped on their heads a great deal…they've really only got their looks… (Supernatural reference-yay! ;) ) Yeah, I figured Katherine would be smart enough to do that…but I didn't know about Juliet, so I just figured she wouldn't, especially since it seemed like nothing was being done…and yeah, she does seem to have a talent for getting kidnapped, doesn't she? Hopefully it won't be too bad, but we'll see…yep, that's the reference!** **Thanks-I hope you like this chapter!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 9!**

" _We's gotta git our sister back…no matter wat it takes." Jack murmured._

The next morning, before most of the newsies were awake, Davey was already up and headed for the courthouse. Accompanying him was Joseph Pulitzer, and they were going to talk with Judge Bolger. Pulitzer had decided to come with Davey because he and the Judge were old friends, and he figured it couldn't hurt to offer his help to his friend in this instance, since The League had also now gone after Katherine as well.

But dang it all-did the newsies have to get up so early? It wasn't even six o' clock yet!

Once they arrived at the courthouse, they went inside, heading straight for Judge Bolger's office. When he saw who was knocking on his door, he sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God it's only you two." he muttered under his breath. Pulitzer looked confusedly at his friend, who seemed much more nervous than usual. "What's wrong, Jeremy?" he queried. His friend sighed, running a hand through his hair before explaining, "I've been trying a murder case in the last two weeks or so, and every single lawyer in New York seems to think they're involved in the case-I've had scores of them through here in the last five days or so, giving me their opinion on this or that…it's driving me insane!" He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, before sighing deeply. "I know that's not why you're here, though…what happened?"

"Juliet got kidnapped again, Your Honor. By The League of Gentlemen." The judge stopped dead in his tracks, gripping the desk so hard his knuckles whitened. "Juliet's been kidnapped. For the second time in five months. By this gang of rich boys?" At Davey's nod, the judge almost-but very nearly-cursed under his breath, barely holding it in. Finally, he slumped into his seat and placed his head in his hands.

"That poor girl…she's just getting over her last kidnapping too…and those last soaked newsies were her best friends, weren't they?" Davey nodded again, and the Judge sighed again.

"Darn these aristocrats who think they're so much better than you all-that's the reason you're all in bad shape in the first place, because of stupid people like them!" He sighed, trying desperately to calm himself. "Are the officers who have been watching them the last few days aware of this?"

"I don't know if it's those specific officers, Jeremy, but Katherine and I went over to the Lodging House last night to show the newsies a note that a League member had left in her room. When Jack and Race realized that Juliet was missing, they allowed the officers to look through the House and confirm that the newsie was not there. The same officers were present during our search in the park, where Jack was left a package from Anton containing a rag soaked in chloroform."

"What note?" Pulitzer handed the note that Katherine had received over to his friend, who read it carefully before setting it on his desk, leaning back in his chair and thinking hard.

"So, you know for a fact that Juliet was not in the house…did she get a paper like this?"

"Yes-Finch, Elmer, and Race saw it, and said that she was extremely nervous about it."

"And Katherine found this on her bed?"

"Yes, somehow a League member got into her room and placed it there, and I'm guessing the same thing happened to Juliet. Oh, I forgot to mention this, but the officers who searched the Lodging House also saw the conditions that Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo are in, and said that their personal observations of the boys could stand as evidence in court."

"Yes, it could….hmm…well, the harassment charges might be a little hard to prove, unless the officers specifically hear the rich boys taunting you newsies…but with the eyewitness accounts of the officers, and whatever condition Juliet is found in, along with the injuries to the boys themselves should be enough to get them on aggravated assault…and we can add kidnapping to the mix…as well as breaking and entering." Davey and Pulitzer sighed in relief. Finally they would be able to get the rich boys locked up and away from the newsies. So long as they found Juliet…

"Do you know where they're keeping Juliet?" Judge Bolger asked. Pulitzer looked to Davey, who shook his head. "No, Your Honor, we haven't found it yet-but we won't stop until we do. We _are_ going to get our sister back."

"Yes, of that I have no doubt…and I have no doubt that Jack will be having a very important conversation with her afterwards." The Judge murmured. Davey grinned wryly as he nodded. Then, the Judge started. "You know-I just thought of something else that might help us. These League members believe that if they are arrested for anything whatsoever, their parents will simply bail them out of jail because they're rich. What if we bring in their parents beforehand and show them what their sons are doing and why it's illegal-maybe some of them will agree not to bail out their sons." Pulitzer and Davey nodded excitedly. If the parents wouldn't bail their sons out of jail, it would mean that the rich boys would be left in prison to rot for a long time-perhaps even forever. It wouldn't be total revenge for all of the hell The League had put the newsies through, but it was at least a good start.

"I'll call them in tomorrow morning. We'll get these rich bastards-I know we will." the Judge said, looking them both in the eye. The other two nodded, shaking his hand, before slowly leaving the office.

While Davey was meeting with the Judge, the rest of the newsies were out selling. Davey had given his money to Race, who had bought papers for Davey and would give them to him once he arrived. They were having a good selling day, and business seemed to be booming. The newsies made sure to keep an eye on each other, so that no one would get set upon by the rich boys. They also kept an eye out for any sign of where Juliet might be being held, or if she might possibly have escaped. After a little while, Mush, Scabs, and Buttons were taking a quick break to get a drink of water. As they did so, they heard a tearing sound and then a high-pitched scream from behind them. The three turned to see a woman shoving away a tall young man who had apparently shredded her newspaper into bits, and then tried to make off with her purse. As the man got up to try to run away, she hit him with her purse, and as he recoiled back, the three newsies groaned.

Of course it was a League member. Of course.

The woman had a few choice words for him, and The League member responded in kind, including something along the lines of "anyone who wastes fifty cents on those disgusting pieces of newsie vermin deserve to have their livelihood stolen away". The newsies could clearly hear this, and both Scabs and Buttons started yelling at the rich boy (Jordan) and began to charge towards him. Mush grabbed both of them around the waist, before flipping around and crying, "JACK!" From a few blocks away, Jack heard the shout and turned to see the three boys, before sprinting over towards them. As he skidded to a stop, Scabs broke out of Mush's grip, only to be stopped by their older brother. "Easy, ya two! Wat's goin' on?"

"Dey said dat anyone who buys a pape from one a us deserves ta have deir stuff an' life stolen! An' dey called us vermin!" Scabs cried, still trying to break out of Jack's grip. Jack looked over at Buttons, who was nodding his head in agreement, a fierce look shining in his dark eyes. The newsie leader sighed, before turning his head to see who it was that had riled Buttons and Scabs up so bad. When he noticed Jordan, he growled lowly in his throat. "Wat're ya all doin' round here?" he queried sharply. "Why don'cha jus' bug off-before ya do sumthing ya's gonna regret. Cause iffn' ya goes afta us…we ain't gonna be too kind in return."

"You can't do anything to harm us, even if you tried. No matter what you do, it will seem as a random act of violence against a high-ranking citizen of the fair borough of Manhattan by a member of the very dregs of the social ladder…and with our word against yours, no police officer will believe the lot of you." From behind him, out walked Oscar Morrison and Rito Revoltan, both with an undeniably arrogant swagger. "You can't touch us, newsie filth. No matter what we do to you, none of you can touch us."

"Just watch us!" Buttons cried, finally breaking free from Mush's grip and starting to barrel towards Jordan-only to be caught around the waist by Davey, who had just walked up. "You'd best be moving on," he called to the three rich boys behind him, "before Jack and I just decide to let go of our brothers here and let them come at you. And I promise you won't like that outcome-so get lost." The rich boys sneered at them for a while, but finally slunk off into the shadows. Once they were completely out of sight, the two "Core Four" members slowly released their holds on their younger brothers.

"You three go on now an' keep sellin'-Davey an' I's got sumthing ta talk 'bout." Mush, Scabs, and Buttons nodded (Scabs and Buttons rather sullenly), and started off for their corners. As they walked off, Jack turned to Davey. "So-what'd da Judge say?"

"He said that with the police officers' eyewitness testimony and the conditions of Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo-as well as Juliet, once we get her back-will be enough to get the aggravated assault charges…and we can also add in kidnapping-of course-and breaking and entering. The only one that'll be hard to prove is the harassment charges, but the others will put them away for longer. Judge Bolger is also going to call all of The League members' parents in for a meeting tomorrow, to talk about what their sons are doing, and try to get them to avoid bailing their sons out."

Jack slowly started to grin. "So wat you's tellin' me is dat iffn' deir parents don' bail dem out, dey all goes ta jail?"

"Yes-for a long time. So long as their parents don't bail them out, they won't get out of jail for near fifty years." Jack's smile grew bigger, and he heartily slapped Davey on the back, causing the younger boy to stumble forwards a little bit. "Davey-ya jus' gave me da best news I's had in a long time." He then stopped, growing slightly more somber. "Now all we has ta do is git dem bastards in da jail…an' git Juliet outta watevar hellhole dey's got her in."

At that exact moment, Juliet was beginning to regain consciousness. For a while, she didn't open her eyes, reacquainting herself to her surroundings. She had quickly realized that she wasn't still in Central Park, as there was no sound of whistling wind or towering trees, but a still silence. Also, she knew that she wasn't in the Lodging House, as even late at night one of her brothers would be making some sort of noise-a few of them snored, a few of them rolled around in bed, etcetera. Suddenly, the events of the past few hours flashed through her mind, and she groaned.

Jack was going to kill her. Everyone knew that it didn't take a long time to take a piss…and she could guess that she'd been away from the Lodging House for a long time.

Jack was going to kill her.

And probably Race.

And Davey.

And…well, Crutchie couldn't get out of bed, so he technically didn't count.

"Well, well, well…looky here, boys-our 'little friend' is awake!" Once she recognized the speaker's voice, Juliet groaned again. "Anton-cain't ya jus' give up an' leave us alone already? Ya's done anough harm ta all a us, an' ya ain't gonna git away with it!"

"Au contraire, my 'little friend'…your precious newsies will never see you again-and they will never be able to convict us of anything. There are no charges that will stick to us."

"Uh…kidnappin' for one….breakin' an' enterin', um…" At Anton's scoff, she smirked (or, what she thought was a smirk). "Wat? I's read up on dese things, so dat if I finds myself in dese sorts a situations, I's gonna know wat you's gonna git arrested for." She finally opened her eyes to see a semi-dark room. It was large and rectangular, with a couple windows letting in some light. She could make out all 12 League members in the room, including Anton and Nixon, who were standing nearest to her. She also realized her current physical situation-she was standing on the ground, with her hands tied together and her arms pulled over her head, tied to a hook on the ceiling. Her feet touched the ground-but just barely.

"Wow…ya's really goin' all out, ain'tcha? Wen da newsies wanta soak somebody, we jus' beat da guy to a pulp-like Jack, Race, an' Davey did ta you three ovar dere…" She cut off as Delon stalked lividly towards her and slapped her across the face. She slowly turned her face back to face him, before spitting in his face. "Ya gotta do better den dat, _boy_." she scoffed. Delon went to strike her again, but Nixon pushed him back a ways. "Not too much yet, you idiot." he murmured quietly. "Anton still has to talk with her for a while…and then you'll get to hit her."

"Um…ya do know I can hear ya, right? I mean-ya's standin' right dere…not dat hard…" Juliet snarked. The smirk on her face turned to a scowl as Anton walked in front of her.

"Why?" The question was short, sweet, and _not_ what Juliet was expecting. She blinked a couple of times, before confusedly staring back at him. "Why wat?"

"Why are the newsies so popular?" Anton asked, turning his back to her and walking a short distance away. "Why does the public love them so much…and why did you join them?" He turned around, adopting an almost fatherly look, as if she was a child who was misbehaving, and he had to straighten her out. Juliet groaned in annoyance. " _Dat's_ da whole reason ya dragged me here? _Seriously?_ I mean, I didn' think anyone could be dat stupid, but…" She trailed off at Anton's frustrated expression before continuing. "Da public likes us cause we works hard, an' we stand up for wat is right. Also, cause Crutchie, Les, an' Snitch is some a da cutest people ya has eva seen." She smirked. Then, her smile fell, and she sighed. "An' I joined dem cause I had nowhere else ta go. My parents left me unda a bridge wen I's six, an' den tried ta forcibly make me move back in with dem. Da newsie boys-an' girls, countin' Smalls an' some othars-gave me a home an' a real family, an' I ain't never gonna be able to repay dem for it." Anton scoffed, clearly not believing her. Juliet rolled her eyes. "Plus, de rescued me from da stupid Clancy brothas an' Warden Snyder an' my parents…which reminds me…can I's go now, since I answered you's stupid questions? I'd like ta git back 'fore my arms lose all a deir circulation." It was true-her arms were still recovering a bit from when she was trapped in the Refuge. They weren't too bad anymore, just very sore, and were starting to sting pretty bad, since she was almost hanging by them. Her ribs were also starting to ache quite a bit. She tried not to make a sound, though, trying not to give The League the satisfaction of hearing her in pain.

"You know our answer to that, Margaret…and you also know what's going to happen to you. Now, tell us how we can tear down the newsies and turn the public against them."

"An' wat in God's name would make ya think ya can make me do dat?"

Anton grinned nastily. "Oh, I think you know why." He walked forwards, until he was so close that Juliet was trying as hard as she could to get away. "You and I used to have something once…." he leered, running a hand down her side. Juliet shuddered in disgust.

"Dat was wen we was children, Anton-an' it nevar meant anything."

"Oh really? It meant something to me." He came even closer, eyeing her. "We could still have something together…so long as you tell me how to topple the newsies." He leaned in close, as if to kiss her. Something in Juliet snapped, remembering what had happened to her the last time she had been kidnapped, and she lifted up a leg, kicking Anton squarely in the groin. He stumbled back, glaring at her, before letting out a curse. "Your fate is on your head, then. Boys, teach her a lesson." The League members sneered as they gathered around and started "teaching" Juliet a "lesson". It was a lot like what the Clancys had done, but not as far as they had gone, which Juliet was thankful for. She _had_ expected the beating, though, and so she tried as hard as she could not to make a sound of pain. Some groans did escape her, but other than that she was basically silent. By the time they were done, Juliet was beaten, bruised, and bloody, barely able to keep herself from attempting to curl into herself from the pain. The League members, laughing coldly, then left the room, Anton last to leave, slowly shaking his head. "You could have been the girlfriend of someone important, Margaret. Remember that."

"I don' belong with your kind a people, Anton. I nevar have, an' I nevar will. I may have bin born dat way, but dat doesn' make me who I is. I's a newsie till da end, an' nothing ya can say will evar change dat."

Anton rolled his eyes, sighed softly, and exited the room, closing the door behind him. Juliet sighed, now much more comfortable with letting out groans of pain.

" _Jack…Race…Davey…guys…wherever ya guys are…now would be a great time ta come an' find me…..although I undastand iffn' ya don' want ta, since I's da one dat ran off…._

 _Jus' come help. Come find me._

 _Please."_

 _ **A/N 2: Welp…this chapter finally got done…sorry it took so long to get out! I've been working on it as much as I can the past 4 days (ever since Wednesday), and I really made a push to just get it out today, in preparation for tomorrow being my first day of classes (though I don't have one until 11am). Just a heads up-chapters probably won't come out every day now…I will have a lot more homework/responsibilities, but I'll try to update as regularly as I can! There's only three chapters left, so hopefully it should be done before too much longer!**_

 _ **Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	10. Da Best Thing Ya Coulda Done

**A/N: Hello, all! It's currently 9:12pm on Wednesday, September 2** **nd** **…just in case any of you were curious on when I started this. ;) I haven't updated for a few days since I've been trying to get into the swing of college life, and let me tell you….AUGH!** **I love it, but it's so chaotic and crazy at the same time!** **I only have a few classes each day, but I have tons of homework for those classes…and I ordered the wrong textbook for one class…** **Oh,** _ **and**_ **I'm starting work (YAY! EMPLOYMENT!) as a Gym/Kitchen custodian next week…the job is only Saturday/Sunday, but that's when I'll get a lot of writing done…and I'm going to probably be working out Mon/Fri/Sat (for a weight-training class), which is right when I could be working on my story. Oh well… ;) Hopefully I get some more time soon. This chapter is a cliffhanger, but on the good side, the newsies finally get a break! Yay! ;)**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE WRITING STORIES ABOUT THEM WHEN COLLEGE GETS SCARY AND I DON'T WANT TO PUT AWAY MY LAUNDRY!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Thanks! It might be a problem if you kidnap her…cause I need her for the rest of my stories…but, the good news is, I've got a bit of an idea for a story once I finish this one (although I still need to come up with the rest of it) that still whumps a newsie…just not her. No spoilers, but-knock on wood-Juliet won't be getting (physically, at least) whumped in the next story! Yay! Yeah, I like Judge Bolger too-whenever I write him I just see Andrew Keenan-Bolger in a judge's robe…and it's a super cute mental picture! ;) Yeah, he's definitely going to put the League away for a long time!** **Yep-although it's actually soda now, since we don't have coffee creamer, and I don't like it black… I probably do too. That's awesome!** **I wish I could have a cool job like that-I'm starting work here next Saturday as a custodian, so…** **Don't worry-pretty much every time I talk, I ramble, so… ;) I think this chapter should be a happier landing…I** _ **think**_ **.**

 **FansieFace: Oh, boy…I think I broke Hulu…..Hopefully it likes this chapter! Anton's not really in it, but the newsies do get to get a bit of revenge…which is good! Don't die on us, Hulu-we need you! Haha…I think that's the one thing we can agree to disagree on, but yeah, Corey Cott is super good too. I totally agree-every single cast member is super attractive! Oh yeah, I don't know if you heard, but there's a new song that they wrote for Crutchie for the touring production…and they got AKB to sing it. I haven't watched the video yet, though, cause…all the feels…even typing about it brings out the feels! Gah! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter!** **;)**

 **S. Castro: Yep, the Judge is back-and you'll find out this chapter! Also, yeah, that bit with Anton is super gross….I seem to be great at writing whumpage and perverts, so…I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but…** **I hope you like this chapter, and thanks!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (and maybe also a minor WHUMPAGE WARNING….as of writing this author's note I'm not sure of how bad the boys are going to be… ;) )**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 10!**

" _Jack…Race…Davey...guys…wherever ya guys are…now would be a great time ta come an' find me…although I undastand iffn' ya don' want ta, since I's da one dat ran off…Jus' come help. Come find me. Please."_

The next morning, the newsies were heading out for the distribution center. It was a decent day for selling-slightly cold, but very sunny. There weren't as many New Yorkers out and about as there had seemed to be the past few days, but that was all right with the newsies. All of them by now were itching for a showdown with The League, desiring nothing more than to shove their smug faces into the pavement. Jack had told the newsies not to do anything-since they were trying to work _with_ the cops, and not antagonize them-but he was finding it difficult to keep a few from disregarding his orders and going after them. He had specifically made sure that he picked a corner from where he could see Scabs and Buttons for that very reason…and also so that he could see Race. His lieutenant's anger had been exploding more and more every day that The League still held Juliet captive, as it brought back memories of the last time she had been kidnapped, and how he couldn't do anything to stop it since Aaron Clancy had tackled him. Race was also nervous that something was going to happen to Juliet (something worse than before), and that for some reason Jack would blame him for it, and then would kick him out of the newsies or something. Jack had talked with him last night-Jack _and Crutchie_ -and reassured Race that that would never happen, but the newsie leader wanted to make sure that Race didn't spontaneously do something rash that he would regret later on.

They had arrived a bit early, and the first boy was about to go in when they heard a shout. "Jack!" Every newsie turned around to see Katherine running straight towards them, grinning profusely. In her hand, she carried a newspaper. As she arrived, she skidded to a stop, before handing Jack the paper and attempting to catch her breath. "It's the…headline for…today's paper…thought you might…like to see it." Jack looked through the story, slowly starting to smile as he read all the way through.

"Wat's it say, Jack?" Elmer asked. Jack handed the newspaper back to Katherine, grinning at her. "Why don' ya read it to 'em? Ya's da one dat wrote it, ya know." Katherine nodded. Then, she cleared her throat.

" _There has been a lot of hubbub recently about a group of extremely rich boys who have decided to, out of the "goodness of their hearts", attempt to "help" the newsies of Manhattan with their "burden" of selling papers. In recent articles, the rich boys, also known as "The League of Gentlemen", have been praised for their "good deeds" and "selfless acts" that they have been doing, and even though no response has ever been obtained from the newsies for the articles, all reporters seem happy to assume that the newsies are extremely grateful and happy about their new situation._

 _Not so._

 _This reporter has inside access to the newsies, since she is romantically involved with the leader of the newsies, one Jack Kelly. One may claim that that automatically falsifies any clam she makes because of supposed bias towards the newsie population. This could not be further from the truth. Because she is involved with a newsie, and has been their friend since the October Strike, she has witnessed firsthand the struggles the newsies go through each and every day. It is true that they are poor, and live very hard lives. But because of that, they care about each other deeply, and make sure that every single one of their "family" is looked after-whether it's a younger or older "brother", a full-fledged "sister", or this reporter, as an "honorary sister". The League also claims that by taking papers from the newsies and giving them away for free will help the newsies and better their lives._

 _Not so again._

 _It is true that the rich boys will be able to continue to pay for the papers they give away, as they are super rich and can pay for whatever they please. However, it will bring great harm upon the newsies. For at least one day, if not two, the newsies were forced to sell in groups, as there were not enough papers for each boy or girl, which meant that it quickly became very hard to start earning back money to buy all of the papers they sell now (on their own, not in groups). Money is always tight for the newsies, but with The League's "help", it became even tighter for them._

 _The League is also becoming abusive. They have been harassing the newsies verbally ever since they first met, and have been abusing them with their words ever since. They have also been extremely physically abusive towards the newsies. Many people have noticed the gaping holes left by the newsies Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo, who haven't been out and selling the last week or so. This is because each of them was horrendously beaten by multiple League members-Crutchie by three and Specs and Romeo by seven._

 _You may recognize the younger "sister", Juliet, also named Margaret Comstock. She was the young newsie who was part of the enormous lawsuit that occurred against the newsies in December and was horribly beaten by the Clancy brothers, Warden Snyder, and her parents, Lucas and Taylor Comstock. She has still been recovering from her injuries from that captivity, including still-bruised ribs, and both arms still recovering from being broken. Now, not five months after she was kidnapped, she has been taken captive by The League, who also attempted to kidnap this reporter. She has been imprisoned by them for two days now, and the newsies are trying to work with the cops and Judge Jeremy Bolger to rescue her._

 _So, a lot of people may claim that The League is beneficial to the newsies, and that the former are a great help to the latter._

 _However, nothing could be farther from the truth. The League is a plague upon the newsies, and in order for our favorite newsboys to survive, they have to be stopped."_

As Katherine read, Jack would help translate into "newsie-speak", as he could understand what the article was talking about…somehow… (Darn you Davey and your "rich-person" speak!) As she finished, her newsie brothers let out a loud cheer. "Let's see 'em try ta git afta us now!" Sniper crowed. Jack kissed Katherine. "Ya don' know how much dis means ta us, Katherine. Dis is da best thing anyone coulda done for us."

"You're welcome, Jack-and you all deserve it. The League needs to be stopped…and I could never let anything happen to you all. You're my family, and I won't let anyone hurt you if I can help it." Jack kissed her again, grinning. Suddenly, Katherine looked around. "Where's Davey?'

"He's off with dat Judge, Judge Bolger, an' is talkin' ta da parents of dem rich boys, tryin' ta see iffn' dey'll agree not ta bail deir kids outta jail. Iffn' dey don', da League a Idiots could be stuck in dere for like fifty years or sumthing, accordin' ta Davey."

"You might be wondering why myself and this young man have asked you all to come here." Judge Bolger and Davey were sitting at a table, surrounded by the parents of each member of The League. Pulitzer would have been there, but he had to get back to the paper and make sure it was running smoothly.

"Yes, you said it was something to do with our sons?" one mother asked. Judge Bolger nodded grimly. "Yes, Mrs. Revoltan. Your sons have formed a group, called the "League of Gentlemen", and have been harassing and abusing the newsie population of New York for almost two weeks now. The young man sitting to my right, David Jacobs, or Davey, to the newsies, is a newsie himself, and can attest to the abuse that your sons have engaged in against his fellow newsies. Also, not only are they taking over the newsies' livelihood, but…we have reasonable suspicion-and clear evidence-that suggest that they have not only physically attacked three newsies, but may have recently kidnapped the newsies' "younger sister", Juliet-also known as Margaret Comstock, who was kidnapped not five months ago, and was the focus of a huge lawsuit in December." While the Judge was speaking, the air seemed to get sucked out of the room, until no one could breathe. The parents were looking at each other in shock, as if they couldn't believe what their sons were doing.

"Nixon and his friends have done what now?" a man (who was apparently Nixon's father) queried. Judge Bolger looked to Davey, who sighed. "We first met your sons about two weeks ago, when they came up to us and told us that we were an abomination to the city of New York, and that their goal was to have us be totally exterminated. Then, the next day, they started to steal the papers that we rely on for our survival, arguing that they were doing us a "favor", and that they could just sell the papers for free, since their parents were rich and they could afford to pay for the next day's papers-which severely limited the funds we could receive, which both financially and survivally hurt us. In addition, three of them, Delon, Lucius, and Mitchell, attacked my "younger brother", Crutchie-the newsie you may have seen around with a crutch and a limp, not only beating him but breaking his bad leg, and snapping his crutch in half. They kept verbally harassing us, but some police officers prevented them from taking anymore papers. A couple of nights ago, two younger newsies, Specs-who is sixteen years old-and Romeo-who is almost fourteen-were attacked by seven of your sons. Specs was left barely conscious, and Romeo was unconscious when we found them. Juliet-Margaret Comstock-almost went on a rampage to kill each of your sons, since all three of those newsies are very close to her. Two days ago, The League broke into both Joseph Pulitzer's house, and the Lodging House, where the newsies live, and left notes for Margaret and Katherine, saying that if they wanted us to be left alone, they should come talk to your sons in Central Park. Katherine didn't go, but Juliet did, and when we and the police officers went to find her, Anton had left a package for Jack Kelly, our leader, with a chloroformed rag inside of it." The parents all looked at each other in horror.

"Our sons have done all of that? Oscar has never made any mention of it to me." Mrs. Morrison finally murmured quietly. Judge Bolger nodded. "Yes. We have been working with the police to arrest your sons for what they have done. However, we wanted to know if you would feel inclined to bail your sons out of jail. We understand that they are your sons, and that they are very close to you, but-"

"We won't." Everyone looked down the table to see a mother and father staring seriously back. "Our son is Anton Mercer, the 'leader' of The League. We'd thought something was off with him and his friends, but we never could have expected this… We do love our son, but he needs to know that his actions have consequences, which we don't think he has yet. Since this is what is needed to educate him…we promise not to bail him out." Davey let out a huge breath. He had expected the Mercers to be the hardest parents to sway, but…apparently not. It took a few minutes, but finally all of the parents were in agreement-they wouldn't bail out their sons, now that they knew what they had done.

The newsies had a chance. Now they just had to find their sister and bring her home.

Immediately after the meeting with the parents was done, Davey came back and told Jack exactly what had happened. The two and Race then met with two police officers (the two that had gone with them to try to find Juliet), and the officers said that all they needed to do now was to find out where Juliet was being held. For a while, they had no idea how they would accomplish that. Then, Race came up with an idea. "Wat if we finds a rich boy an' grabs him, an' asks him were dey has Juliet?"

The officers thought for a few seconds, before saying, "That could work-so long as you don't beat them up…or at least, not too badly." The three "Core Four" members nodded, grinning at each other. Every single newsie would be more than willing to go after a rich boy. They hadn't seen them all the time lately, but if Jack knew anything about his brothers, it was that they wouldn't stop looking until they found something or someone.

The word was soon out around the entire borough of Manhattan-if any newsie saw a rich boy, they were to grab them and head back to the Lodging House, alerting the others along the way. Almost as if The League members knew, they were avoiding the newsies, not walking the streets. No one saw any rich boys until the newsies were almost done selling. Finch, Elmer, Sniper, Albert, and Henry were selling on the corners surrounding Jacobi's Deli. They were keeping an eye out, but like the others, they hadn't seen any sign of a rich boy.

Until they did.

Finch and Albert were picking up new papers after selling a big bunch to a group of tourists. As Albert looked up, he whistled to Finch. "'Ey-dere's one a dem rich boys ovar dere!" he whispered. Finch turned to see that, yes, in fact-William Tailen was across the road from them …and not paying any attention to them. Finch and Albert grinned at each other, before catching the eye of their other three brothers. They snuck across the street, not alerting the older boy to their presence, before catching up to him across the road and grabbing him. He tried to yell out, and whacked Henry in the nose with his elbow. The newsie in question cursed under his breath, and punched William in the face, knocking him out. Once the taller boy was unconscious, Sniper, Elmer, and Henry dragged him back to the Lodging House, while Finch and Albert grabbed the papers they had been selling. As they went, they called to each newsie, letting them know that they had found a rich boy. Mike and Ike also took the papers that Finch and Albert were carrying, promising that they would return the money that they collected for their brothers' papers.

A couple of hours later, the newsies were all back at the Lodging House. They had tied up William in one of the smaller rooms that they hardly ever used-unless someone needed to privately explode in anger or something. All of the newsies were trying to get in the room, but Davey was doing his best to keep them out. Finally-to Davey's relief-Jack and Race arrived back at the house. Jack saw his brother quickly becoming overwhelmed by the others and almost immediately took action. "'Ey, everybody-back up an' give Davey some space! Y'all go ta da Soakin' Room an' talk with Crutchie, Romeo, an' Specs, alright? Davey, Race, an' I is gonna talk ta dis idiot. We's gonna let ya know wat he says, but it's jus' gonna be da three of us. Git goin' in dere." His younger brothers were extremely disgruntled, but they finally started heading off into the other room, Jack and Race gently herding the younger boys who tried to hide and listen to the conversation. Once the three were alone, Jack grinned at them.

"Well-let's go find our sister!" he muttered.

 _ **A/N 2: Hey! Sorry this ended so…weirdly, I guess would be the right word…I wanted to include the interrogation in this chapter, but because of time constraints (read: dinner started 11 minutes ago and I want to go food), I'm saving it for the next chapter…or I might not actually write it…I know you'll all be wanting to see it, but it might make the next chapter a bit awkward. I'll figure it out in the next couple days and let you know in the initial author's note in the next chapter!**_ __ _ **I just realized that it's taken me about 35 hours to get this chapter fully done…I started it two days ago, wrote a bunch last night, wrote some today during Humanities (heh heh… ;) ), and then came back to the room after choir and was like, "Okay, I need to get this chapter out…cause I REALLY WANT TO WRITE THE NEXT TWO!"**_ __ _ **Hopefully you'll like them as well! Also, two notes.**_

 _ **First, I was reading through Chapter 9 either last night or yesterday (as I always do, to check for errors)…and I'm pretty sure that that chapter was my first ever to have NO ERRORS! YAYNESS!**_ __ _ **Hopefully that continues with this chapter!**_

 _ **Second…if any part of this chapter is really crazy or you just get confused reading it…sorry… ;) My college has soda vending machines, and also soda in the cafeteria…and I've been drinking way too much (like, 5 full bottles today, pretty much), and I'm trying to stop…but this is me writing with an overly caffeinated brain, so hopefully it still makes sense!**_ __

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon… (soon-ish… ;) )**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	11. Don' Touch Our Sister

**A/N: Hello, all! So, I started this chapter yesterday (after getting back from a froyo date with our "brothers"…each girl RA has a "brother" boy RA, and our halls are "brothers" and "sisters"…and our brothers are super sweet! Highlights include me mishearing things and thinking that my "brother" Caleb said something about "wearing Amish soup" and "Bush died on the 11"… ;), as well as Caleb, my "brother" Shelby, and my "brother" RA Tyler just being idiots while sitting next to me.** **), but I didn't finish it until now. The reasoning is that I had a choir lab today at 10am, followed by Pentateuch at 11am, and then lunch, then Western Civ at 1:30pm (I actually wrote some during class), and then a brief break, then an audition for chapel band, and then 2 and ½ hours of working out, and then dinner…and then I've been typing since then.** **It's also taken a while because I couldn't figure out if I wanted to put in the interrogation or not. Like I said in the last chapter, I would announce in this note whether it is present or not, and I am proud to say that it is present! This chapter also is ridiculously long…but it's because it had so many parts that I had to write, and it all took a long time.** **The next chapter is the last outright chapter, so be prepared for that, and then the "thank you" chapter afterwards! I also have a new story in the works….something that involves physical whumping (though not of Juliet), emotional whumpage…and Jack. ;) I haven't worked it all out yet, but keep an eye out!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST GET ALL THE FEELS FROM AKB OH MY NEWSIE GOODNESS!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah-they're going to be stuck in jail for an extremely long time. Yeah, that's how I've only seen him too…but it is a rather cute mental image.** **Yeah…I've had that happen, where I've done things with kids and then they leave and I'm just like, "Why did you have to leave me?" ;) College is pretty great…I just have to get a handle on the homework. Yeah, someone in our dorm has a Keurig coffee machine…I just have to get the little cups that go in the machine.** **I agree-you can never have too much of it…until you start having tremors in your hands like I have. Then, maybe too much… ;) Yeah, they should find their little sister…and this one should definitely be a soft landing! You're welcome, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **FansieFace: OHMYGOSH I JUST MADE MYSELF WATCH IT AND AOIEOIWHEGOIHIOWEJFOIEWHGOIJFOIJWOIFJEOIWJF ALL THE FEELS! I love AKB…and I nearly cried in front of my roommate…she doesn't get fandoms, so she doesn't understand why it affected me so much…so she's just sitting there doing something on her phone while I'm over on my bed having a nervous Crutchie feels breakdown…I need a pillow… ;) Haha…yeah, I totally get that.** **Seriously-does Hulu need an AED or something? Don't worry, Hulu, you've got this update and then one more of the main story, and then there should hopefully be one more coming out soon-ish!** **I'm hoping I get time as well!** **Haha…whenever we talk about Hulu, I'm just kind of mentally picturing a greenish blob…I'm not sure if that's correct or not, but…a stuffed animal would be awesome…just don't kill it!** **Don't worry, they will…oh…they will. (enter maniacal laugh here.) Yeah, I figure that I write a lot of mean rich people and perverts, so it's nice to have** _ **some**_ **nice and sane rich people…** **I hope so too, and don't worry-I could never forget you guys! (Seriously-after I post a new chapter I just go to my email and push the refresh button thousands of times until one of my "Core Three" (you, S. Castro, and biankies) writes a review!)**

 **S. Castro: You didn't leave one for last chapter again! Oh no-ARE YOU DEAD PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD I NEED YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS ON THIS STORY SO THAT IT WILL KEEP BEING AWESOME AND YOUR JUDGE BOLGER FANGIRLNESS!** **;)**

 **MINOR CLIFFHANGER ALERT (CLIFFHANGER ALERT AS IN YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER TO SEE WHAT WE ALL KNOW WILL BE COMING…) AND (SO GOOD TO SAY THIS AGAIN)…REFERENCE ALERT! (both to Newsies and Avengers!)**

 **Enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 11!**

" _Well-let's go find our sister." he muttered._

That same morning, Juliet had woken up. She almost immediately let out a hiss of pain as her injuries very quickly reminded her that they existed, and as she moved her head, she almost instantly felt nauseous.

Great. So on top of all of her normal injuries, she had a concussion again too. Just great.

Juliet also felt an unusual ache in her left shoulder. Forcing her eyes to open and very slowly turning her head, she gagged, and very nearly kept herself from throwing up. One of the rich boys had apparently dislocated her shoulder, and her whole left side was in agony-not only because of the dislocated shoulder, but also because of the pressure that was being exerted on it, since she was currently strung up by her arms.

"Enjoying Lucius's handiwork? He figured that since he couldn't return the favor to that rich boy newsie scum that dislocated _his_ shoulder, he'd do it to you instead." Juliet sighed, very slowly turning her head to face the voice that lurked in the gloom. "Ya know, he coulda jus' left a callin' card or something…Lucius couldn' beat anyone if he tried."

"He beat you."

"I means in a fair fight, an' ya knows it. Davey kicked his butt las' time, an' he ran cryin' ta his momma with his tail 'tween his legs. Iffn' he hadn'a acted so high an' mighty, he might notta got his shoulder dislocated. Well, wait, no, he soaked Crutchie, so he still would." She let out a breathless chuckle. "So, wat now? Ya all gonna beat me up again? Cause I knows for certain dat I ain't nevar gonna betray my brothers…so it's kinda pointless." Anton stepped slightly out of the shadows, grinning nastily at her. "Oh, no-we figured that out very quickly last night-the boys just needed a punching bag. Now, though…we have a new torture for you."

"An' wat would dat be?"

"We're going to leave you alone."

"Um…wat? Dat makes no sense."

"You heard me. We're all going to leave and go do something fun. In the meantime, you'll still be strung up here. Once we get back, we might spend some attention or energy on you…or we'll just sit here and play cards or something. Either way-you'll be here. Alone. All day." He chuckled, waving fakely, before stepping back into the gloom. "Have fun in solitary confinement!" Juliet sighed in pain, trying to move to a point where she was putting less pressure on her left shoulder, while also not aggravating her concussion.

Today was going to be a long day.

"And what makes you think I'll tell you anything?" William sneered. Jack simply grinned at him, Race and Davey flanking him from behind. "Oh, I don' _think_ you'll tell us anathing…I _know_ you'll tell us. Otharwise…well, ya probably don' wanna know 'bout dat." He stepped menacingly closer to William, never raising his voice above a quiet snarl. "Ya kidnapped our sister…an' ya ain't gonna git away with dat."

"She must not be a very important sister to you, then. We took her so easily it was like stealing candy from a baby. And what is this now, the second time she's been kidnapped? Seems like you care more about your reputation than her-last time she was kidnapped under two of your very noses, and this time without all of you knowing. Seems like you don't have a very good track record-aughck!" The odd noise he uttered at the end was due to the fact that Race had tackled him onto the ground, and was currently trying to smack his head into the pavement. Neither Jack or Davey had expected or even seen Race move, so for a few seconds they were frozen in shock. "Ya don' EVAR git ta talk 'bout dat, ya hear? Don' evar talk 'bout dat. People like ya's da reason dat dis kinda stuff happens in da first place! Iffn' ya rich people weren' all monsters-'cept for Davey an' Les, a course-we's wouldn' be in dis mess! An' don' ya think for one second dat we didn' care what happened ta Juliet-a course we did! Romeo an' I still blame ourselves for wat happened evan today! So iffn' ya wanna say dat we didn' care 'bout wat happened!" Suddenly, he felt two strong grips yanking him off of William and back to his feet. He struggled for a few seconds, but the arms tightened around him, and he could hear Jack's voice in his ear. "Race-ya gotta calm down! I know dat da guy's a bastard, an' I wanna soak him too, but we cain't do it! We gotta work with da cops on dis one! Plus, he cain't tell us where she is if ya knock him out cold!" Jack kept murmuring in his ear, not loosening his grip on Race. It took a while, but Race was finally able to slow down his breathing and swallow his anger. He nodded to Jack, and his older brother slowly released him. They then turned to see that Davey was yanking William's chair back up onto its feet. The older boy now sported a very black eye and a split lip, which set Race grinning.

"You could never work with the cops-you all hate each other." William scoffed. Jack chuckled at him. "Oh really? We's bin workin' with dem for a while now-an' once we finds Juliet, ya all is gettin' arrested for many things."

"Like what?"

"Oh, like harassment, aggravated assault, breaking and entering…and kidnapping." Davey murmured seriously. Then, he also grinned. "Oh, and Judge Bolger talked with the parents of you and your friends…and none of them are going to bail you out. You're all going to jail for a long time."

"And you expect me to believe _you_ , you inbred newsie hack?" Now it was Davey's turn to rush at William, but Race grabbed him before he could get too far. He then attempted to calm the younger boy down as Jack stepped closer to the rich boy. "Your friends is leavin' ya all alone, boy. You ain't gonna be gettin' outta here any time soon, or outta jail. Why don' ya jus' give up an' tell us were she is?" The four inhabitants of the room stayed silent for a while, before William sighed. "She's at that old library downtown. In the basement."

Jack nodded. "Thank ya, for ya cooperation." With that, he spun around and headed for the door, waiting for Race and Davey to leave before he exited the room. Once they were out, the three turned to each other. "Now we know where she is-we just have to go get her." Davey murmured. "And bring in the cops."

"When is we gonna do it? Cause it doesn' seem like any a da rich boys is anawhere 'round here." Race responded. Jack sighed, contemplating for a moment all of the variables. Then, he replied, "Here's wat we's gonna do. We's gonna wait outside 'till dey come back. It's already five o' clock anaways…dey should be back soon. We'll send a couple guys out ta go git da cops, an' den somehow we's gonna git den to come outside while da rest a us go in an' git Juliet out. Undastand?" The two boys nodded.

"Let's go tell da boys-tonight's da night."

Later that night, the newsies were ready. Sniper and Snitch were hiding behind a tree, waiting for the signal. Once Jack whistled to them, they would take off for the police station and get the two cops that had helped them before, along with some others, and bring them back to the library in order to arrest The League members. The rest of the newsies were split up into two groups-one outside with Race, who would draw the rich boys out of the library, while the other group was going to follow Jack into the building and rescue Juliet. Crutchie, Romeo, and Specs had tried to get Jack to allow them to come along, but he simply looked at them like, "Are you kidding me?", and refused to let them come. "Ya all are still recoverin'-an' none a ya is supposed ta be gittin' outta bed yet! Jus' wait here for when we gits back, alright?" His reasoning swayed Crutchie and Specs, but Romeo looked like he still wanted to protest. Jack sighed, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don' worry, kid-we's gonna git 'er back. I promise ya." Finally, Romeo nodded. The three injured newsies were planning to stay up and wait for their brothers to get home. However, Jack wanted them to get some sleep, since for all he knew they could be out until the next morning. Therefore, he slipped one of the sleeping pills into each of their glasses of water and made them drink it before he left. Suprisingly, none of the three suspected what Jack had done, and they all peacefully drifted off. All everyone was waiting for was the rich boys to arrive at the library.

It was about eight o' clock when the boys finally showed up. They had gone out to a festival that day, and appeared to have had a great time. Jack sighed in disgust at the raucous way they were carrying on. "Like vultures, da lot a dem." he murmured to Davey, who hummed in agreement. Once they were far enough towards the library, Jack let out a light-but piercing-whistle. To the rich boys, it just sounded like a bird in the trees, but Sniper and Snitch recognized it and immediately took off running. Jack then looked over at Race and nodded, his lieutenant nodding back. Jack started to move over towards the side entrance they had discovered earlier in the evening while Race and his group slowly crept forwards. Then, as Jack quietly slid the door open, Race picked up a rock and threw it through the giant window in the front of the library. "'Ey, rich boys-we wants ta talk ta ya!" he yelled into the broken window. From inside, he heard a snarl, and then nine League members (all except for Conrad and Delon) emerged from the library.

" _Nine down…two ta go."_

As Race and his crew were verbally sparing with the nine rich boys, Jack was taking his group through the library as quietly as they could, trying not to attract any attention. It took them a while to find the right steps, but once they located them, they quickly ran down them and found the door to the basement. They were about to push through the doors, but Davey suddenly threw up his hand. "Wait-what if there's a rich boy or two in there? We should at least know how many and where they are before we go in, so we can know how to punch them better." Jack nodded-his brother's plan made sense. Davey then leaned over and peeked in through a small window off to the side of the door. After a few seconds, he responded, "All right, I can only see Delon and Conrad, and….oh my God….Jack, you're not going to like this." Jack immediately sped over as fast as he could and looked through the window, cursing _very, very, very audibly_ under his breath when he saw Juliet.

"We ain't waitin' any longer-dere's only two a dem. Let's jus' git in dere an' git our sister out." Jack declared, striding towards the doors. He then proceeded to throw them open with a loud _CRASH!_ Both Delon and Conrad looked up at their entrance-but by then it was far too late. Jack and Davey (along with their four brothers) made short work of the rich boys, soaking them in two minutes flat. Finch and Elmer then tied the boys' hands and legs together, and then tied them back-to-back, so they couldn't escape, even if they tried. Then, Jack, Davey, Finch, Elmer, Mike, and Ike turned their attention to Juliet. She was in pretty bad shape, having similar injuries to what she had earlier born from her time in the Refuge…in addition to a severely dislocated shoulder. Jack whistled lowly, and then stepped back in surprise, as the noise seemed to startle Juliet awake, and she hesitantly stepped back, before hissing in pain as her injuries made themselves known. Before anyone else even moved, Jack was already stepping up to gently steady her. "Easy, Juliet." he murmured. "It' jus' your brothers…an' we's a bit worried for ya. Can ya open your eyes for us?" It took a little while-and clearly a bit of effort-but Juliet finally forced her eyes open. She blinked them for a few seconds, trying to focus, before finally turning her head to face her brothers. "Hey, dere, little one. How ya feelin'?" Juliet rolled her eyes. "Why…does evaryone…ask dat question? Dat an' 'Are you all right?' An' dey only ask it when dey can see ya's not alright or not feelin' good…" She cut off, realizing that she was rambling. Her brothers just grinned at her. "Maybe it's cause we know ya ain't." Finch responded. Juliet looked confusedly at him. "Ya know…dat made no sense, Finch."

"Wen dose Finch evar make sense?" Elmer smiled. Finch smacked his shoulder, and Elmer shoved him back. Without even looking behind him, Jack muttered, "Enough, ya two." The boys slowly stopped fighting. The newsie leader was looking around for something sharp to cut the ropes, but stopped as Juliet whispered his name. "Yeah, little sis? Wat's up?"

"Is ya…is ya still mad at me? 'Bout runnin' off?" Jack sighed, before shaking his head slowly. "No, I ain't mad. I's frustrated an' confused 'bout it, sure…but I ain't mad. I's jus' glad you's safe." His younger sister still looked nervous and scared, so he gently rested his palm against her cheek, smiling as she leaned into the touch. "You's gonna be alright, Juliet-I promise ya." Jack murmured softly. Juliet nodded, seeming to pull strength from Jack's gentle voice and the warmth of his hand. By this point, Mike and Ike had both remembered that they had swiped a pair of switchblades the day before from some richer boys (richer than them, not as rich as The League), and had passed them both up to Davey. Davey caught Jack's eye from over top of Juliet's head. They were ready to cut her down…and it was going to hurt…especially since she had a dislocated shoulder. Jack nodded back. "Juliet…we's gonna git ya down now…an' I cain't lie ta ya…it's gonna hurt. I want ya ta keep your eyes on me-don' look at anything else. Just me. Ya hear me?" His younger sister trembled under his hand, but nodded. "Alright den. Davey's gonna relocate your shoulder, and den we's gonna cut ya down. Jus' keep lookin' at me." Juliet nodded-and then cried out in pain as Davey firmly shoved her shoulder back into its slot. Through it all, though, she kept looking at Jack. Her brothers waited for the pain from the relocation to fade before slowly cutting her wrist bonds. As each arm came free, two newsies grabbed them and eased them down, keeping them from flying down and smacking Jack or Juliet in the face or the shoulder. Once that was done, they slowly eased Juliet down until she was lying cradled in Jack's grasp. As he started moving, the nausea kicked in again, and she buried her face in his chest, trying to breathe through the pain. She felt someone place their hand on her head and rub it gently. "Don't worry, Juliet. Just trust us. We've got you-and we aren't going to let you down." Juliet nodded slightly at Davey's touch, and relaxed a bit more. The other four newsies had grabbed Delon and Conrad and dragged them along, taking every opportunity to yank their ropes and cause them to stumble. Before they got up the steps, Les and Snitch came running down. "Jack, the police are here…oh no…" Jack nodded thankfully to the two youngest brothers, and they all ran up the stairs together. They kicked open the door to find the police outside surrounding the nine League members. Everyone turned around at the door slam-the rich boys groaning in annoyance, and the newsies letting out muted cheers and gasps of horror at Juliet's appearance.

"All right, boys-we've seen enough. You're all under arrest for harassment, aggravated assault, breaking and entering, and kidnapping. These officers will all escort you to the police station for detainment, and if you try to run away, you will be chased down and tackled. Now get going!" The League members tried to fight, but the police officers just glared at them until they started dragging their feet off towards the station. Jack cleared his throat, and the two lead officers stopped, turning back to face him. "Thank ya for all ya's done. We could nevar have done dis without ya."

The officers grinned at him. "It's been an honor to help, Jack Kelly. If you're ever in trouble again, feel free to ask for Officers Calhoun and Gattelli." Jack nodded, and the two officers clapped him on the shoulder before walking off. Once they were gone, Jack turned to his brothers. "Let's git Juliet home."

Once they got home, the newsies made a beeline for the Soaking Room. The doctor had already been called, and he was waiting for them along with Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo, who were now all awake and glaring at them. They stopped glaring, however, when they saw Juliet. "Why is it always her?" Romeo murmured under his breath, looking concernedly at his sister-and tearing up a bit. Jack smiled gently at him, laying Juliet down in the bed next to him. "Don' worry, kid-she'll be alright. Won' she, doc?" The doctor nodded, already starting to look Juliet over gently. "Yes-she's basically got the same injuries as she did from the Refuge, but to a much more minor degree. She should be all right, so long as you keep an eye on that shoulder and her concussion." The others nodded. The doctor finished taking care of her injuries, before turning around to leave, slipping something into Jack's hand as he did so. "Since she has a concussion, it's probably not a good idea to give her the normal painkiller, as there's a chance it could worsen the nausea. Have her take this instead-and make sure she takes it. The concussion won't go away for a while, and she's probably still sore in her shoulder."

Jack nodded. "Don' worry, Dr. Menken-we'll make sure she takes it." The doctor smiled at him, and clapped him on the back as he left the room. Jack then turned to the others and sighed. "Alright now-I knows ya all wanna talk ta Juliet, but it's late, an' we gotta let 'er an' da othars git some rest. We's all gonna see her tomorrow." The younger newsies immediately protested, but Jack held firm, and they slowly began to trickle out of the room and back to their dormitory.

Finally, the only people left in the room were the four injured newsies, Davey, Race, and Jack. Juliet looked at the ground, trying to avoid having the conversation she knew she was going to end up having, and praying that not meeting her brothers' gazes would prevent it. Unfortunately, she was not that lucky. She could hear someone dragging a couple of chairs over towards her bed, and she also felt her bed dip to the left as someone sat down. A sigh came from up above her, and then a hand rested on the back of her neck. "Juliet?" came after a while. "Can ya talk 'bout dis with us?" She quickly shook her head, still looking away, and the hand on her neck squeezed gently. "Will you at least look at us?" Juliet shook her head, tearing up a bit. The hand on her neck tightened again. "Juliet…We ain't gonna git mad at ya or anathing…we jus' wanna talk ta ya." Their younger sister shook her head for the third time, but Jack wasn't having any of it this time. The gentle grip on her neck became firm, and it kindly-but swiftly-guided Juliet's face towards her brothers, and her eyes to meet theirs. When she tried to move away, Jack just held her there. "We jus' wanna know…why did ya go meet da rich boys? Ya knew dey wouldn' back off…why did ya go?" For a while, they didn't think they would get an answer. Then, Juliet shrugged, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "Ya know, I think I actually thought dat dey would…dat cause I had some connection with Anton, dat I would be able ta talk ta him, an' get him ta see sense…an' look at how well dat turned out. I jus'…I jus' couldn' sit by an' do nothin' iffn' dere was a chance dat I could do something ta git da bastards dat went after da three of dem."

"Why didn' ya tell us were ya was goin'?" Race queried. Juliet quietly scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Right, like I could tell ya all dat I was plannin' ta go try an' talk some sense inta some idiot rich boys who jus' beat up three of my best friends. Yeah, dat'd go over _real_ well." She sighed, moving around a bit in order to rest her shoulder a bit better. "I guess…I guess I jus' didn' want ta be a burden like last time. Last time I got caught way back in da beginning, an' everything wat happened was cause I couldn' take care a myself. Now I can do it better, an' I thought…dis time I could help ya all an' take care a some a ya, instead a y'all have ta take care of me again." She sighed. "An' lookit how dat turned out." Jack chuckled lightly, leaning her over slightly so that she could prop her shoulder against his chest. "Ya did well, kid," Race murmured, "Anton was tellin' us all 'bout how ya wouldn' stop snarkin' with 'em…an' how ya kicked 'em in a…certain place." Juliet chuckled at that, nodding.

"I didn' want wat happened last time ta happen again, ya know?" She gently leaned back against Jack. "I undastand iffn' y'all's mad at me for not tellin' ya were I was goin' and tryin' ta take dem on by myself, and if ya cain't trust me anymore, I undastand, I jus'….I jus' love ya all too much ta sit dere an' not do something." She sighed, fully preparing to shift off of Jack's chest and back down to the bed, but Jack's arm quickly snaked around her waist, stopping her from moving. "Ya ain't goin' anywhere." he muttered in her ear. The steel in his voice startled her, but as he talked, she could tell that it wasn't frozen metal, but warm steel. "Now, I git why ya had ta do wat ya did. Heck, I woulda done it iffn' I was in your place. I also know ya know why it wasn't a good idea, an' how Race, Davey, an' I ain't happy 'bout it." Juliet nodded, looking away. Jack rubbed the hand around her waist to get her to look at them again. "We ain't mad at ya, Juliet. We's disappointed, sure, an' sad dat ya didn' think ya could trust us…but we's just glad dat you's alright. We's gonna git through dis, one day at a time-ya hear?" Juliet smiled thinly at them. Race and Davey squeezed her shoulder and ankle, slowly getting to their feet and patting Jack on the back. He got the message loud and clear-they would go check on the other newsies and make sure that they were sleeping (and not waiting outside the door trying to eavesdrop). They would give Jack a moment alone with Juliet-after they got Crutchie, Specs, and Romeo to go to sleep. Jack watched as they exited the room, his overprotective nature still present. After they left, Jack turned back to Juliet. His sister was heavily listing to the side now, her head resting against his shoulder. He smiled, rubbing her shoulder. "Jus' relax, Juliet. Ya know ya wanta sleep…jus' go ta sleep." Juliet shook her head, trying to stave off the inevitable. "I's not tired, Jack. I's not tired." She could feel her brother's laugh rumble through his chest. "Ya ain't tired, huh?" he grinned. "Well, den…why don' ya jus' relax an' close ya eyes for a bit. Jus' close ya eyes…ya don' have ta go ta sleep…jus' close ya eyes an' relax." Jack kept his voice low, soothing, gentle, and quiet, as well as a gentle pressure against her arm. The combination had his sister's eyes fluttering closed in a few seconds, and then her breathing evening out. Before she fell asleep, Jack got her to drink the water with the sleeping potion in it, which brought her much closer to sleep. Right before she drifted off, she felt Jack gently kiss her temple. "Sleep well, little sister. Your brothers' have ya, an' we ain't lettin' go a ya for anabody.

Jus' sleep."

 _ **A/N 2: So…I did not expect this chapter to be this long…it just kind of exploded into a mess…but I got it out! Success! Haha…anyways, the next chapter will be out sometime in the next week or so, and then the "thank you" chapter will be out soon after that. Then, I'll probably hunker down and do a bunch of studying, as well as plan out my next multi-chapter, which will involve Jack running into some old friends of his (which will be OCs) and having some issues. Not spoiling any more for you…it'll give you something to look forwards to! Chapter 12'll be out soon, so look for that in the coming days!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	12. Once and For All We're Done

**A/N: Hello, all!** **This is the final "real chapter" of this story…wow….how did it come to this? I seem to write these things really quickly! I'm hoping to get out a new story within the next month or so…while I work on MALA…. (cause that story is a huge beast….and I need to get it done…) but I have an idea of what I want to have happen in it…** **I'll give you a hint-whumping, old friends, and Jack. What do all of these things have in common? You'll see soon! Haha…anyways, there isn't much going on in my life at the moment…I'm just getting used to college life….and not being able to walk everywhere by myself because the area around my college is super sketch…and I can't drive…and my parents don't want me to walk around by myself. Ugh.** **I've literally been looking for someone to go to Walgreens with me for 6 hours….and now I have to get someone from another college to go with me….** **Anyways, I'm writing this chapter to make myself feel better…and to complete this story for you all.** **Thanks so much for following this story, and to all my "Core Three" for reviewing every chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LOVE MY NEWSIE BOYS AND GIRLS SO MUCH THAT I CAN'T STOP WRITING ABOUT THEM!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, I loved that part too…I just kinda let Race go, and that's what he decided to do…I would have done it, if I could actually tackle a guy…I could sit on him like a pro, but I can't tackle him all that well…and yeah, Judge Bolger is going to put them away for a long time. Yeah, I assure you, she isn't going to get hurt. The working title at the end might give you an idea of who it is…but we'll see.** **Yeah, my time management is all screwy at the moment…but it's getting better. I'm starting work on Saturday, though, so my brain will be fried by Sunday. At least I'm going to get to go to my house and sleep on Saturday night. Yeah, actually studying in class would probably be a good thing… ;) Yep, I've started using the Keurig, and it's been super helpful. I've only been on a real sugar high once, and according to my friend, it's a terrifying thing. Haha…hopefully you don't need to use any of them…and hopefully this landing was super soft!**

 **FansieFace: Yay! Go Hulu!** **Thanks! I was hoping you would-you and S. Castro usually pick up on those really quickly. Haha, now you saying that has got** _ **me**_ **picturing that…and it oddly suits him… Sweet-I can't wait to hear what shape Hulu has! Pretty much it's just been a giant green blob in my brain whenever I think of it…why green I have no idea. Yeah, college is super fun. I agree, AKB is my baby as well, but…ohmigosh he can't be thirty! I mean, I looked it up and I know that he is, but….GAH ANDREW WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO KIND-OF OLD!? He is super adorable too…and yeah, he is Crutchie. There's no doubt in my brain-he** _ **is**_ **Crutchie. I think I read something about that…..and omigosh yes I loved his Letter From the Refuge…oi, stupid people-get with the fandom already! I haven't watched the reunion yet, but I probably should (so I can go bawl my eyes out some more…) Yeah, it's super depressing that this story is ending, but I can't wait to start the next one!**

 **: That's good that you're alive! I'm glad!** **Yeah, those were the references…** **I thought of them, and was just like, "I can't not put them in." Yep, The League isn't coming back anytime soon. I agree-the family connection is super cute and fun to write…and I also loved that scene between Jack and Juliet! There's another sweet one between Romeo and Juliet in this chapter I think you'll enjoy!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" Chapter 12!**

" _Right before she drifted off, she felt Jack gently kiss her temple. 'Sleep well, little sister. Your brothers have ya, an' we ain't lettin' go a ya for anabody. Jus' sleep'."_

A while later, Juliet slowly started to wake up. She didn't open her eyes for a bit, but simply lay in the bed, relaxing in the warmth of her bed-as well as trying to breathe through her pain. She snuggled slightly into the warmth to her right…and then froze. The warmth to her right wasn't her blankets. It was someone's body. She quickly flashed her eyes up to see which of her brothers it was, and then looked back down, trying to pretend that she was still asleep. She didn't fool her brother, though, judging by the laugh that rumbled through his chest. "Come on, little sister. I can tell ya's not asleep." Her older brother gently ran a hand through her hair, and she curled up a little more into his warmth.

"How're ya feelin', little sister?"

"…I's bin better." she murmured quietly. Her brother chuckled again, laughing a little louder when she poked him in the side. "My head hurts and everything overall hurts, but I's doin' alright." She looked up at her older brother sleepily. "How is ya doin'-I's probably messin' up ya injuries-"

"Juliet-it's alright. Specs an' Crutchie an' I are doin' a lot better, an' now we's all focused on ya." Juliet looked down embarrassedly, but her brother moved his hand to cup her cheek, and turned her face to face his, love and gentleness showing in his brown eyes. "Jack's still mad at me, ain't he?" she queried. Romeo grinned at her, and shook his head (biting his lip a bit to keep a wince from spreading across his face or a groan of pain to escape as he did so, since his nausea and headaches suddenly reminded him that they existed). "Nah…he ain't mad. He's concerned 'bout ya, like we all is. He's a bit frustrated, sure, but he ain't mad." He rubbed his sister's shoulder as she slowly breathed out in relief. She had her arm draped across Romeo's chest, and slowly noticed the dark grooves marring her wrists, even showing under the bandages that were tightly wrapped around it. She let out a soft mewl of horror, and Romeo swiftly turned her face back to his. "Jus' some rope burns from when dose bastards strung ya up. Nothin' ta worry 'bout." He held his sister's eyes until she nodded. Then, he softly grinned. "Speakin' a dose rope burns…" he started, reaching up above him to where a glass of water was sitting on a nearby table, "Jack said he wanted me ta have ya drink dis when ya woke up, in case he wasn't here ta do it himself." Juliet rolled her eyes, chuckling at her older brother's overprotectiveness-but she still allowed Romeo to help her drink it. Up above her, Romeo softly smirked, knowing exactly what Jack had put in the water. He could tell when it started to take affect when his sister snuggled up to his side even more, slowly letting out a deep breath.

"Jack put dat sleepin' thing in dere, didn't he?" she queried quietly. Romeo chuckled lightly. "Yeah, he did. It's jus' wat he does, ya know?" He could tell that as soon as his sister heard what he said, she decided to fight it, judging by the fact that she was trying to keep her eyes from closing, and the fact that she was trying to sit up in the bed. Romeo may have been weaker than he normally was, but he was still able to hold his sister down. "Easy, Juliet." he murmured. "Jack's jus' tryin' ta help ya feel better-an' ya cain't do dat without gettin' some sleep."

"I jus' woke up!"

"I know-but I could tell ya was tryin' ta go back ta sleep da moment ya woke up." He smiled down at his sister. "Don' fight it, Juliet. Jus' relax an' go back ta sleep-Crutchie, Specs, an' I is gonna be here when ya wakes up." He leaned down and kissed his sister on the forehead, chuckling as he saw her smile. He kept rubbing her shoulder gently and watched as Juliet finally stopped fighting the sleeping potion and quickly drifted off to sleep. Romeo grinned over at Crutchie and Specs, who had watched the interaction between the two with knowing smirks on their faces.

"Is she out?" Crutchie asked.

"Yeah-an' Jack said dat potion'll knock her out for a while. She ain't strong enough yet when she's awake ta do nothin', so…"

"An' wen she is, ya know she's gonna be mad at Jack for makin' us drug 'er."

"Yeah, I know, but we cain't do much about it-it's Jack's orders, ya know, an' it's good for her…even though she don' get it yet." The boys nodded, and then continued to talk quietly while keeping an eye on their younger sister.

They weren't going to let her out of their sight.

Not for a long time.

"What do you mean, you won't help us?" Oscar cried in confusion. The rich boys had been arrested and thrown in the police station's holding cells until Judge Bolger had an open spot in his schedule for the trial. Their parents had all been alerted to the fact that the boys had been arrested, and had come down to the station to talk to them. "Just what we said-we will not bail you out of your own problems. You twelve were the ones who made the decision to go on this violent rampage, and now _you_ are the ones who must pay the consequences. If we gloss over it, like we have done in the past, you will never learn to take responsibility for your own actions."

"But we are your sons! We are the cream of the crop of the richest families in the city-"

"But _nothing_! You not only broke a number of laws set both by the city of New York and by the federal government, but also set out to exterminate a whole group of people! You beat four of them to a pulp, and threatened all of them with death! How did you think we would _ever_ approve of this?"

"Why do you even care? It's not like you even care what happens to the newsie vermin!"

"We care that you tried to kill all of these young men and women, and that you broke a number of laws to do it! We cannot bail you out when you committed such gross transgressions!" Anton's father shook his head. "We will leave you to whatever fate the judge decides for you." The League members looked at them in shock, but the parents held firm. They glared in sadness at their sons, before walking out of the room and out of the police station. On the other side of the room, Davey-who was hiding in the shadows of the room-let out a low breath. "Jack's going to love this." he murmured quietly. He continued to watch The League members argue with each other for a while, before slowly slinking out of the station. On his way out, he ran into Katherine, who had been about to enter the station. "Oh, sorry, Katherine." he grinned. Katherine caught his smile and smiled back. "I assume by the fact that you can't stop smiling that something adequately bad happened to The League of Idiots?" They started walking down the streets towards the Lodging House, Davey kindly offering his arm to Katherine, who-of course-could not refuse. The boys _were_ super protective of their sisters, after all. "Yes-they've all been arrested for harassment, aggravated assault, breaking and entering, and kidnapping. They'll be locked up in jail for a long time, and won't come after you or Juliet ever again. Or any of the rest of us." Katherine sighed in relief. She had only interacted with Anton and The League for a short time, but they had sufficiently creeped her out, and she was glad that they would be locked up. Davey caught her sigh and grinned back at her. "I was just heading back to let Jack know the good news, since it's a day off for us and we're all back at the Lodging House…and I assume that's where you're going?" Katherine nodded, rolling her eyes at her older brother. "Would I be going anywhere else?" she smiled. "I haven't spent enough time with my brothers and sister lately, and I fully intend to remedy that." Davey beamed at her, and then opened the door as they arrived at the Lodging House. They entered to see all of the newsies spread out around the Living Room, and the four injured newsies' beds moved to be in the front and center. They were currently laughing their heads off at whatever story Crutchie was telling. "So den, iffn' ya can believe it, da idiot goes ta punch da stupid idiot, but he ends up missin' da punch an' smackin' himself in da face!" The rest of the newsies roared in laughter, while Jack gently cuffed his best friend on the back of the head. "Wat was I supposed ta do-let 'em hit ya?"

"Naw, course not-but ya's not supposed ta hit youself either!" Crutchie teased back. Jack rolled his eyes, chuckling-and suddenly noticed Davey standing there. The two locked eyes, and Davey could see the desperate question burning inside his friend: _Did we get the rich boys?_ Davey grinned widely at him, and nodded vigorously. Jack sighed in relief. Finally his family would get the closure they deserved…and hopefully no one would try to mess with them again. He cleared his throat, and all of the newsies stopped their side conversations to listen to him. "'Ey, boys-listen up! Davey jus' came from da courthouse, an' apparently da rich boys is getting' trapped in dere-right?" Davey nodded, but then held up a hand to stop the other newsies from blurting out questions. "Yes, their parents did refuse to post bail-which means that they won't pay to free their sons from the police station, but some of us do have to go into court tomorrow and briefly testify about what happened. Judge Bolger suggested that it would be easier to convict The League if we brought one or two of our brothers who got soaked."

"And I'm testifying too." Katherine added. "They did break into my house, after all." The boys grinned at the two of them, letting out raucous cheers of joy. Jack rolled his eyes at the outbursts, but couldn't stop himself from grinning. Even the four injured newsies were getting in on the celebration-although Race did have to put a gentle hand on Crutchie's shoulder to keep him from getting out of bed. Crutchie rolled his eyes and huffed slightly, but he allowed Race to lower him back to the bed. After the boys had finally cheered themselves hoarse, Jack raised a hand. "Alright-here's wat we's gonna do. I's gonna go in da court tomorrow, an' I's gonna take a few a ya with me. I's takin' Crutchie an' Specs with me, since dey's two a da ones who got soaked. I's also gonna take Finch an' Elmer with me, since dey saw the paper dat Katherine an' Juliet had. Davey's comin', a course, since he's, ya know, Davey. Da rest a ya is gonna sell as usual, an' Race'll be in charge." He looked each newsie (and Katherine) in the eye, before muttering, "We're going to get these bastards-once and for all." Again, raucous cheers broke out. Jack rolled his eyes at his siblings' antics, but couldn't stop smiling.

Finally, it was their day.

The next day was a triumphant one for the newsies. The trial began at 10 in the morning, and within an hour they were done. Thanks to the insurmountable amount of evidence against them, each member of The League was convicted of harassment, breaking and entering, aggravated assault, and kidnapping. They were each awarded forty-six years in prison, and were immediately hauled off to jail. The newsies did actually sell that day, but the rest of it was spent celebrating with their siblings. They had finally triumphed over The League, and were victorious again. The rest of New York City seemed to be celebrating with them as well-the Manhattan newsies even received a surprise visit from Smalls, who carried greetings and congratulations from the other boroughs. By the time Jack finally made his brothers and sister go to sleep, it was rather late. He was staying up with the injured newsies, since it would feel wrong to spend a night in celebration on the roof by himself, without Crutchie with him. His younger brothers and sister had fallen asleep already, and it was now Jack and Crutchie sitting up talking.

"I's glad we's finally done with dem stupid League guys." Crutchie murmured. Jack nodded back. "Yeah…I's jus' sorry ya got soaked in da first place."

"'Ey, it's wat ya woulda done ta protect Romeo an' Juliet, da idiots." Crutchie said fondly, looking over at the two. Jack followed his gaze, smiling at his sleeping siblings. His smile dropped a little as he noticed Juliet starting to roll around in her sleep and let out little mewling noises of fear and pain. He moved quickly, sitting on the side of her bed and running his hand over her hair, which he knew would help. "It's alright, Juliet. You's safe, an' so is all a us." A few seconds later she quieted down, and Jack moved back to sit with Crutchie. They sat in silence for a little while, before Jack sighed. "I'm jus' glad dis is all ovar, Crutch."

"It's all over."

 _ **A/N 2: Well….this is it! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed this story! (*pulls out tissue box, starts crying because the story is over*) I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter…I started it, and then had no motivation to keep working on it (I don't know why…)…and then college started-which has been great, but I'm super fantastically busy now, and will be even busier soon-and so I've resorted to writing this chapter during my classes to get this done. Hopefully you like it, and it makes up for the like 3 weeks of torment you guys had waiting for this chapter! (Wow…three weeks from tomorrow…) I also realized-after rereading the last chapter-that I called Anton's parents the "Mercers"…that's the last name of the guy from Power Rangers the guy is named after…and I didn't change it. Whoops! Also, I wanted to say that the years in prison the League members get was determined by what it is right now-1 year for breaking and entering, 1 year for harassment, 20 years for aggravated assault, and 20 years for kidnapping. I actually did research on this. I'm not sure if it was the same or not during the 1900's, but… ;)**_

 _ **Anyways, I'm so thankful for everyone who came on board for this story! To all of my new readers, welcome-I hope you liked this story, and I hope you check out the rest of the stories in my Newsies quartet! For my "Core Three"-thanks so much for reading all of my stories currently out, and I hope you all enjoyed this one…and that you don't try to kidnap Juliet (biankies, looking at you here)…she's not going to get whumped in my next story…scout's honor! It's someone else, but it sure as heck ain't her.**_

 _ **It's been a blessing to write for you all, and I'll see you (sometime) soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_

 _ **P.S: I've got the name for my next multi-chapter, but I haven't planned it out yet. The working title so far is "When Jack Cried". Sounds depressing, I know, but I could change it whenever.**_ __


	13. THANK YOU!

**A/N: Hello, all! There is a reason this chapter is…a couple of weeks late…** **I have been really involved with classes lately, and I've also been starting work, and doing…other stuff…** **Then, right when I was planning to type this chapter, my computer's "E" key stopped working. I figured that it was just the key being stupid, and so let my parents know, and my dad came to take a look at it. Long story short, it's not the keyboard that's broken, it's the whole stupid motherboard, and it'll take like…2 weeks to get fixed, because we had to send it to FREAKING DELL AND I HAVE TO USE THIS STUPID TINY COMPUTER UNTIL IT'S DONE AND AEJIOFNAEOIGNIOAERGOISANDGFINMFLJN! (Sorry, I can't really yell and hit things, so…okay…mini-rant over.** **) Anyways, suffice it to say, I will be working with a tiny computer for the next little while…which has the processing speed (I think that's what it is…) of a geriatric sloth.**

 **Anyways…you all didn't come here to read all of my computer drama, did you? ;) This chapter is, like Chapter 19 of TNG, a "Thank You" chapter for all of my readers and reviewers! I couldn't do what I do without you all, so…here we go!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES I JUST LOVE WRITING STORIES ABOUT THEM WHILE HYPED UP ON CAFFEINE! (biankies-I'm at** _ **that**_ **point…haha…)**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, I know-it's over! What the heck? Where has the story gone? Yeah, I'm planning to set the next story a lot later, so they have time to all recover before…whatever's going down in the next story.** **Haha…I think they'll be cursing the universe-and their parents-in jail, but they's staying stuck in dere! ;) Yeah, I'm glad too…it has been a necessity the last few days….cause I've been a tired mess. Thanks-it's been going well, but It's kinda annoying that I have two wait for games to be done to clean…meaning some days I'll be up until 1-2am cleaning…ugh. ;) Haha…none of those newsies will get whumped. I swear-I can guarantee all of their safety for the next story. Someone will be getting whumped, but not those four. No problem-and I can't wait to hear from you again!**

 **FansieFace: Yay-another review! ;) That's awesome-and thank you! I love writing the two of them,…and the newsie family as a whole. They tease the heck out of each other most of the time, but then they can be incredibly sweet and caring as well…which is the main reason I love h/c fics, because I can write the sweet and caring bits.** **Yeah rich parents!** **Don't worry, the next story won't be too bad…unless you're a certain character. Then…then you'll have problems. ;) We'll see, though-but yeah, Juliet won't be getting whumped for at least another story. That's awesome-black lab puppies are so cute!** **Thanks! I hope you love the next one (when I actually get a chance to sit and type it out…)!**

 **: Yeah, I love those moments too, cause they're so flipping cute!** **I've always thought that ever since he met Juliet, Romeo's looked out for her and gotten close to her…especially since they're about the same age….and she's a girl.** **Regardless, yeah, their moments are always super cute. I loved all of those moments too…and your reaction to them! ;) I am so glad you liked this chapter, and I can't wait for you to read my next story!**

 **So, now….for the thanking! First off, for all peoples of this earth who have ever viewed this story, or any of my Newsies story…thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read my stories! Your support means the world to me, and I am super blessed as an author to have you all in my life!**

 **For my new readers-if there are any…hello! Thank you so much for checking this story out! If you haven't read "The Newsie Girl", you may have been a bit confused…but thanks for reading anyways! I apologize if my extreme use of cliffhangers caught you off guard….apparently I'm really good at writing those, physical whumpage, perverted characters, and fluffy moments between the newsies.** **I hope you liked the story, and that you come back for more (either once my next story is posted, or for my three other newsies stories!)! Thanks for stopping by!**

 **For my returning readers…welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter…and that the continued Juliet whump didn't annoy you too much. ;) That girl just can't seem to stay out of trouble, now can she? I hope the characters weren't too OC or anything…and I'm super thankful for any of you coming back from my older stories…you guys are the reason I decide to write a new story-because I know that you guys actually want to read it (which is the best feeling in the world).** **Thanks so much for reading my stories, and I hope you keep coming back for more!**

 **Now, for my "Core Three" reviewers…. (who I've started to think of as members of my own "Core Four", like my Newsies oneshot…):**

 **Biankies (a.k.a. Davey): Hey! Thanks for continuing to read my stories! Ever since you left that review on TNG, I've looked forwards to reading what you had to say.** **You always have great things to say about the previous chapter, and I always make sure to keep them in mind when I'm writing the next chapter. I also enjoy our discussions about caffeine….and how much is or is not beneficial for a human being… ;) I love reading your reviews, because you freak out as much as the other two do, but you have more of a "dignified" air about your reviews…I don't know why…that's just how I read it, I guess…but I always love reading them! ;) Thanks so much for taking a look at this story…and I hope you enjoy the next one!**

 **FansieFace (a.k.a Race): Hello! Thank you sooooo much for checking out this story-and for bringing Hulu with you!** **Ever since we started conversing in Chapter….4, I think…of TNG, I've looked forwards to reading all of your reviews…and your freakouts over cliffhangers…and all of the fansie feels we've gone through…. (Letter from the Refuge, anyone?). Every time you review it seriously brings joy to my heart, and I'm so glad that you continue to read my stories.** **I also enjoy the life that Hulu brings into our reviews…and just the fact that it exists… ;) Which is utterly fantastic.** **I love reading your reviews because you bring so much love and energy to it, and a serious love of the play, which rubs off on me when I'm working on the chapter.** **Thanks so much for checking this story out…and I can't wait to see you on my next story!**

 **S. Castro (a.k.a Crutchie): Heya! Thanks so super much for checking this story out-and for making a profile, so that I can PM you over and over! ;) Haha.. ;) I've loved chatting with you ever since you started reviewing in….Chapter 8/9, I think….of TNG! Your fangirling over Judge Bolger is the most fantastic thing ever, and you're one of the best at finding references that I try to sneak into the stories. It's fun, because with FansieFace and biankies, we generally kind-of carry on a conversation throughout reviews…but you and I switch topics every time and talk about the most random stuff…while still talking about the chapter….which is super fun.** **I enjoy the heart you bring to your reviews, and the fact that when your inner fangirl gets loose you write like 3 reviews for the same chapter… ;) Thanks so much for coming on board for this story…and I hope you'll love the next one!**

 **A little side note before I shut up….a little while ago, I PM'ed my "Core Three" to ask their opinion of something for my subsequent stories. I figured that since I seem to have a fixation on physically whumping the boys, and that Jack and Crutchie are good at helping out with emotional whumpage, I would pick one of the newsies to be a basic medic-someone who learns a bit of medicine and stuff from the doctor, and then would be able to help the newsies out-especially if the doctor is busy. I decided I would give them the chance to input on the stories, so I asked the three of them who they would pick….and the winner is….by vote of 2 to 1…**

 **SPECS! (via biankies and FansieFace)**

 **Specs will, in subsequent stories, be learning basic first aid so that he'll be able to help his brothers and sister with any medical stuff. He will also have another person helping him….as suggested by S. Castro…**

 **ROMEO!**

 **Romeo will be assisting Specs with anything that needs more than one person to do! (S. Castro said 3, and I was only going to pick 1, so I compromised and picked 2. ;) ) Their first test will be in my next story, so be on the lookout for that.**

 **Well, now that I've written that all out, I feel a bit better…like I'm not leaving the story on an odd note, you know? Again, I am soooooooooo thankful for everyone who has ever read one of my stories, and who has supported me in the last year of writing…I would not be the writer I am without you all, and I'm so glad for your presence in my life.** **Without you, "** _ **The Newsie Girl**_ **" would be a shadow of what it became, and "** _ **A Refuge of Nightmares**_ **", "** _ **The Core Four**_ **", and "** _ **A Rich Man's Newsie**_ **" probably wouldn't exist.**

 **Thanks for all of the love! I hope you enjoyed this story, and I will see you all….soon-ish!**

 **God bless,**

 **1monster2**

 **P.S-My next story, hesitantly titled "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **", will be out soon-ish. I haven't had a chance to plan it yet, but I think the first chapter is just going to be a prologue, like the first chapter of ARMN, so I'll be able to work some stuff out there, and then make a plan from there. Returning OCs will (of course) include Juliet and Snitch, and possibly may include Judge Bolger….I don't know yet for sure. There will be five new OCs who are "friends" of Jack's…currently nameless, but I'll probably just steal some peoples' names from my school. Like, seriously-there's like 10 Hannah's at this school, and at least 6 Ben's…..oi… ;) Returning actual characters….fingers crossed…will include the fantastic Mr. Spot Conlon! So glad to maybe be bringing him back!**


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